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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 

COPYRIGHT OFFICE, 

No registration of title of this book 
as a preliminary to copyright protec- 
tion has been found. 

JUN 6 1907 
Forwarded to Order Division 

(Date) 



(6,1,1906—2,000.) s . 



Glass. 
Book_ 



J u 




EVANGELINE 



Faed 



EVANGELINE 



A TALE OF ACADIE 



BY 

HENRY W. LONGFELLOW 



WITH PREFATORY AND EXPLANATORY NOTES 



EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHING COMPANY 

BOSTON 
New York Chicago San Francisco 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Cooies Received 

APR 5 1906 

Copyright Entry 

CLASS XXC No. 

COPY B. 



Copyrighted 

By EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHING COMPANY 

1906 

Received from 
Copyright Office. 



7 % Je'07 



EVANGELINE. 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF THE AUTHOR. 

Henry Wads worth Longfellow was born at Portland, 
Maine, on the 27th of February. 1807. At the age of 
fourteen he entered Bowdoin College, where he studied 
for four years and took his degree with high honors in 
IS'25 . He was at first intended for the profession of 
the law, and with that view received some legal train- 
ing in his father's office. But his strong preference for 
a literary career soon showed itself, and having been 
offered the newly-established professorship of languages 
in Bowdoin College, for the purpose of qualifying him- 
self for the post, he visited Europe, aud spent three and 
a half years traveling in France. Spain, Italy, Germany, 
Holland, and England, studying the languages and 
literature of these countries. In 1829 he returned to 
America, and entered upon the duties of his professor- 
ship. During his residence at Bowdoin College he 
contributed many valuable biographical articles and 
literary criticisms to the North American Review. 

In 1835 he was appointed to the professorship of 
modern language.^ and belles-lettres in Harvard College. 
Io order to become more thoroughly acquainted with 
the languages and literature of Northern Europe, he 
again left his native land and traveled more than a year 
in Denmark. Sweden, Holland, and North Germany. 
After holding his professorship in Harvard College for 
about twenty years, he resigned it in 1854, and settled 
with his familv near Boston. He died March 24th, 
1882. 

Mr. Longfellow's principal works, with the dates of 
their publication, are as follows: — Translation of the 
Spanish Poem by Don Jorge Manrique on the Death of 
nher appeared in 1833; Outre Mer, 1835; Hype- 
rion, a romance, and Voices of the Night, his first 



IV. EVANGELINE. 

collection of poems, 1841; Ballads, and other Poem*, 
1842 ; Poems on Slavery, 1843 ; The Spanish Student, a 
play, 1845; The Poets and Poetry of Europe, and The 
Belfry of Bruges, 1847 ; Evangeline, 1848 ; Kavanagh, a 
tale, 1849; The Seaside and the Fireside, and "The 
Golden Legend, 1851; The Song of Hiawatha, 1855; 
Miles Standish, 1858; Tales of^a Wayside Inn, 1863; 
Flower de Luce, 1866; Translation of Dante, 1867-70; 
New England Tragedies, 1869; The Divine Trairedv, 
1871; Three Books of Song, 1872; The Hanging of the 
Crane, 1874; Keramos, 1878. 



PREFATORY NOTE. 

Acadia or Acadie (the ancient name of Nova Scotia) 
is an extensive peninsula on the coast of British North 
America, originally settled by the Fiench, and after 
varying fortunes finally ceded to the British by the peace 
of Utrecht in 1713. At this time the population con- 
sisted chiefly of French Acadians, whose wishes seem 
to have been little consulted in the change of govern- 
ment, and who were with difficulty induced to take the 
oath of allegiance. Special privileges were conferred 
upon them by the British government, and in 1749 they 
had increased to 18,000 persons, living in comparative 
comfort, and owning 60,000 head of cattle. 

In the wars afterwards w T aged between the British 
and French in Canada, however, the Acadians were 
accused of having in various ways assisted the French 
from whom they were descended. On this account, 
and at the earnest solicitation of the British colonists, 
it was resolved by the government to confiscate the 
property of the Acadians, and to banish them from 
their homes. This resolution was not communicated to 
the people until everything was ready to carry it into 
effect, when the governor issued a summons calling the 
inhabitants together, and informed them that their 
whole lands, tenements, and cattle were forfeited to 
the crown, and that they themselves were to be con- 
veyed in vessels to other British colonies. About seven 
thousand a\ ere thus forcibly removed; the rest fled to 



PREFATORY NOTE. V. 

the woods with their wives and families, where num- 
bers perished by cold and hunger, and others managed 
to escape to neighboring French settlements. 

The poet Longfellow has founded his story of 
Evangeline upon this expulsion of the Acadians. The 
poem opens with a description of the Acadian land, and 
the little village of Grand-Pre on the shores of the 
Risin of Minas, where dwelt Benedict Bellefontaine, n 
well-to-do farmer, and his friend and neighbor, Basil 
Lajeunessc, the blacksmith, together with their children. 
Evangeline the daughter of Benedict, and Gabriel the 
son of Basil. 

The young people were lovers, and upon the day when 
their friends are assembled at the house of Benedict to 
celebrate their betrothal, the summons comes for the 
assembling in the village church of all the men, to hear 
the royal commission for the expulsion of themselves 
and their families and the confiscation of their property. 

They are kept close prisoners in the church for four 
days, and on the fifth are marched down to the beach 
amid great confusion, hurried on board the transports, 
together with their wives and children, taking with 
them only what goods they could hastily collect. The 
day closes before the whole of the exiles have been 
shipped, and those who are left have to encamp on the 
shore : behind them they behold their villages in flames. 
Overcome with grief, the father of Evangeline dies 
during the night and in the morning he is buried ou 
the beach by his neighbors and the village priest. 
Basil. Gabriel, and Evangeline are embarked in separate 
ship^. and landed in different parts of the southern 
states of America. 

For many years Evangeline wanders over the conti- 
nent, with the priest and some of her companions in 
exile, seeking for Gabriel. In one of her journeys 
down the Mississippi to the town of St. Maur, where 
she has heard that Gabriel, with his father, has found a 
residen' e, her boat is passed in the night by that of her 
lover, who. tired of life without his betrothed, has set 
out on a hunting expedition to the Western Prairies. 
When Evangeline and her companions reach the home 
of Basil the blacksmith, they find him prosperous, being 
possessed of large flocks and herds, and known to all 



VI. PREFATORY NOTE. 

around as Basil the herdsman. Upon hearing of the 
departure of Gabriel, Evangeline is inconsolable, until 
Basil promises to start with her the next day in pursuit 
of his son, and to bring him back. 

They set out upon their journey, and after a long and 
fruitless search, arrive at the foot of the Rocky Moun- 
tains, where they find a Jesuit Mission, and hear from 
the priest that some days before their arrival Gabriel 
had left that place to go far into the northern wilds, but 
that he will return in the autumn. Upon hearing this 
Evangeline begs to stay at the Mission until the return 
of her lover; her wish is granted, and Basil returns 
alone. 

After long and patient waiting, Evangeline hears that 
Gabriel will not return, but has gone farther still into 
the wilds. Leaving the Mission along with some guides 
returning to the lakes of the St. Lawrence, the sorrow- 
ful maiden continues her search, and on arriv ng at the 
hut of Gabriel, she finds it deserted and in ruins. 

For long years she pursues her fruitless inquiries, and 
at length finds a home in Pennsylvania, where she 
becomes a Sister of Mercy. Here she has resided for 
many years engaged in works of charity, when a dread- 
ful pestilence breaks out in the city, and in one of her 
visits to the almshouse she finds her lover stricken 
down by the fever. After mutual recognition Gabriel 
expires upon the bosom of his betrothed, while she 
meekly bows her head and murmurs, " Father, I thank 
Thee ! " 

Some few of the Acadian exiles found their way back 
to their old home, and their descendants still tell the 
tale of Evangeline by the evening fire. 



EVANGELINE. 

A TALE OF ACADIE. 



This is the forest primeval. The murmuring 

pines and the hemlocks, 
Bearded with moss, and in garments green, 

indistinct in the twilight, 
Stand like Druids of eld, with voices sad and 

prophetic, 
Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that 

rest on their bosoms. 
Loud from its rocky caverns, the deep-voiced 

neighboring ocean 
Speaks, and in accents disconsolate answers 

the wail of the forest. 

This is the forest primeval ; but where are 
the hearts that beneath it 

1. Primeval. Earliest, original. 

Hemlocks. A kind of spruce fir-trees, common in America. 

3. Druids. Priests among the ancient people of Britain, Gaul, and 
Germany. 

Eld. Old English form of old. 

4. Harpers hoar. In allusion to the ancient players upon the harp, 

.vho were generally old men wearing long gray or hoary beards. 



O EVANGELINE. 

Leaped like the roe, when he hears in the 
woodland the voice of the huntsman ? 

Where is the thatch-roofed village, the home 
of Acadian farmers, — 

Men whose lives glided on like rivers that 
water the woodlands, 10 

Darkened by shadows of earth, but reflecting 
an image of heaven ? 

Waste are those pleasant farms, and the far- 
mers forever departed ! 

Scattered like dust and leaves, when the 
mighty blasts of October 

Seize them, and whirl them aloft, and sprin- 
kle them far o'er the ocean. 

Naught but tradition remains of the beautiful 
village of Grand-Pre. 15 

Ye who believe in affection that hopes, 

and endures, and is patient, 
Ye who believe in the beauty and strength 

of woman's devotion, 
List to the mournful tradition still sung by 

the pines of the forest ; 
List to a Tale of Love in Acadie, lionie of 

the happy. 

8. Roe. A female deer. Mas. hart. 



PART THE FIRST. 
I. 

In the Acadian land, on the shores of the 

Basin of Minas, 20 

Distant, secluded, still, the little village of 

Grand-Pie 
Lay in the fruitful valley. Vast meadows 

stretched to the eastward, 
Giving the village its name, and pasture to 

flocks without number. 
Dikes, that the hands of the farmers had 

raised with labor incessant, 
Shut out the turbulent tides ; but at stated 

seasons the flood-gates 25 

Opened, and welcomed the sea to wander at 

will o'er the meadows. 
West and south there were fields of flax, and 

orchards and corn-fields 
Spreading afar and unfenced o'er the plain : 

and away to the northward 

Basin of Minas. In the Bay of Fundy. 

Hving the village its name (Grand-Prej. Fr. grand, great, and 
pre, meadow. 

24. Dikes. Mounds of earth raised to prevent the sea from over- 
flowing the country. 

25. Turbulent tides. The tides of the Bav of Fundy often rise t-» a 

. it of fifty feet. 

. the dikes for the Inlet and outlet of the 



10 EVANGELINE. 

Blomidon rose, and the forests old, and aloft 

on the mountains 
Sea-fogs pitched their tents, and mists from 

the mighty Atlantic 3(> 

Looked on the happy valley, but ne'er from 

their station descended. 
There, in the midst of its farms, reposed the 

Acadian village. 
Strongly built were the houses, with frames 

of oak and of hemlock 
Such as the peasants of Normandy built in 

the reign of the Henries. 
Thatched were the roofs, with dormer-win- 
dows ; and gables projecting 35 
Over the basement below protected and 

shaded the doorway. 
There in the tranquil evenings of summer, 

when brightly the sunset 
Lighted the village street, and gilded the 

vanes on the chimneys, 
Matrons and maidens sat in snow-white caps 

and in kirtles 

29. Blomidon. A rocky headland at the entrance of the Basin of 
Minas. 

34. Normandy. A northern province of France. 

Henries. Kings of France. The Acadians emigrated from 
France about 1633-8. 

35. Dormer, Dormer-windoiv. An upright window upon the sloping 
roof of a house, generally in a sleeping room. 

39. Matro7is. Elderly women, mothers. 

Kirtle. A top skirt worn over a petticoat. 



EVANGELINE . 11 

Scarlet and blue and green, with distaffs 

spinning the golden ^ 

Flax for the gossiping looms, whose noisy 

shuttles within doors 
Mingled their sound with the whirr of the 

wheels and the songs of the maidens. 
Solemnly down the street came the parish 

priest, and the children 
Paused in their play to kiss the hand he 

extended to bless them. 
Reverend walked he among them ; and up 

rose matrons and maidens, 45 

Hailing his slow approach with words of 

affectionate welcome. 
Then came the laborers home from the field, 

and serenely the sun sank 
Down to his rest, and twilight prevailed. 

Anon from the belfry 
Softly the Angelus sounded, and over the 

roofs of the village 
Columns of pale blue smoke, like clouds of 

incense ascending, 50 



n.it'if. The staff or stick which holds the bunch of flax, tow, or 
wool in spinning. 

"(jeias. A hell calling to prayer, sounded morning, noon, and 
evening; so called from the ftrat word {Angelus) of the prayer then to 
be repeated, 

\ fragrant substance burned before the altar. 



12 EVANGELINE. 

Rose from a hundred hearths, the homes of 

peace and contentment. 
Thus dwelt together in love these simple 

Acadian farmers, — 
Dwelt in the love of God and of man. 

Alike were they free from 
Fear, that reigns with the tyrant, and envy, 

the vice of republics. 
Neither locks had they to their doors, nor 

bars to their windows ; hb 

But their dwellings were open as day and 

the hearts of the owners ; 
There the richest was poor, and the poorest 

lived in abundance. 

Somewhat apart from the village, and 

nearer the Basin of Minas, 
Benedict Bellefontaine, the wealthiest farmer 

of Grand-Pre, 
Dwelt on his goodly acres ; and with him 

directing his household, 60 

Gentle Evangeline lived, his child, and the 

pride of the village. 
Stalworth and stately in form was the man 

of seventy winters ; 

62. Stalworth (or Stalwart). Bold, brave, strong. A. S. stal-iceorth, 
worth stealing. 



EVANGELINE. 13 

Hearty and hale was he, an oak that is cov- 
ered with snow-flakes ; 

White as the snow were his locks, and his 
cheeks as brown as the oak-leaves. 

Fair was she to behold, that maiden of seven- 
teen summers, to 

Black were her eyes as the berry that grow- 
on the thorn by the wayside, 

Black, yet how softly they gleamed beneath 
the brown shade of her tresses ! 

Sweet was her breath as the breath of kine 
that fed in the meadows. 

When in the harvest heat she bc:e to the 
reapers at noontide 

Flagons of home-brewed aie, ah ! fair in 
sooth was the maiden. , e 

Fairer was she when, on Sunday morn, while 
the bell from its turret 

Sprinkled with holy sounds the air, as the 
priest with his hyssop 

Sprinkles the congregation, and scatters 
blessings upon them, 

Kine. Old plural of cow. 

70. Flagon. A drinking vessel with a narrow neck. 

Sooth. Truth. A.S.soth. 

72. The j>rif>t with his hi/stop. In Catholic chumhes the priest 
sprinkle- the holy water over the people with a brush said to bar »een 
formerly made of the byssop plant. 



14 EVANGELINE. 

Down the long street she passed, with her 

chaplet of beads and her missal, 
Wearing her Norman cap, and her kirtle of 

blue, and the ear-rings, 75 

Brought in the olden time from France, and 

since, as an heirloom, 
Handed down from mother to child, through 

long generations. 
But a celestial brightness — a more ethereal 

beauty — 
Shone on her face and encircled her form, 

when, after confession, 
Homeward serenely she walked with God's 

benediction upon her. 80 

When she had passed it seemed like the 

ceasing of exquisite music. 

Firmly builded with rafters of oak, the 
house of the farmer 

Stood on the side of a hill commanding the 
sea ; and a shady 

Sycamore grew by the door, with a wood- 
bine wreathing around it. 

Rudely carved was the porch, with seats 
beneath ; and a footpath 85 

74. Missal. The book containing the Catholic service, printed in 
Latin, 

78 Ethereal. Formed of air or ether, spirit-like, heavenly. 



EVANGELINE. 15 

Led through an orchard wide, and disap- 
peared in the meadow. 

Under the Sycamore tree were hives over- 
hung by a penthouse, 

Such as the traveler sees in regions remote 
by the roadside, 

Built o'er a box for the poor, or the blessed 
image of Mary, 

Farther down, on the slope of the hill, was 
the well with its moss-grown % 

Bucket, fastened with iron, and near it a 
trough for the horse?. 

Shieldirg the house from storms, on the north, 
were the barns, and th« farmyard, 

There stood the broad-wheeled w T ains, and the 
antique ploughs and the harrows ; 

There were the folds for the sheep ; and th^re, 
in his feathered seraglio, 

Strutted the lordly turkey, and crowed the 
cock, with the self-same 9§ 

Voice that in ages of old had startled t*ie 
penitent Peter. 

Penthouse. A shed sloping from a wall. A lean-tv , annex. 

89. HuiJi o'er a box for the poor. In some Catholic countries inv^ea 
of the Virgin Mary., or a crucifix, or a box to receive the a ln is of pr'M* 
travelers, are often seen by the wayside. 

93 Wain. A wagon. 

94. Seraglio (pron. se-ral-yo). The palace of a sultan or eastern 
prince. 



16 EVANGELINE. 

Bursting with hay were the barns, themselves 

a village. In each one 
Far o'er the gable projected a roof of thatch ; 

and a staircase, 
Under the sheltering eaves, led up to the 

odorous corn-loft. 
There too the dove-cot stood, with its meek 

and innocent inmates 100 

Murmuring ever of love ; while above in the 

variant breezes 
Numberless noisy weathercocks rattled and 

sang of mutation. 

Thus, at peace with God and the world, 
the farmer of Grand Pre 

Lived on his sunny farm, and Evangeline 
governed his household. 

Many a youth, as he knelt in the church and 
opened his missal, m 

Fixed his eyes upon her as the saint of his 
deepest devotion ; 

Happy was he who might touch her hand or 
the hem of her garment ! 

Many a suitor came to her door, by the dark- 
ness befriended, 

101. Variant. Changeful, varying. 
102 Mutation. Change. 

Weathercocks. Vanes. 



EVANGELINE. 17 

And, as he knocked and waited to hear the 

sound of her footsteps, 
Knew not which heat the louder, his heart or 

the knocker of iron ; 110 

Or at the joj'ous feast of the Patron Saint 

of the village, 
Bolder grew, and pressed her hand in the 

dance as he whispered 
Hurried words of love, that seemed a part 

of the music. 
But, among all who came, young Gabriel 

only was welcome ; 
Gabriel Lajeunesse, the son of Basil the 

blacksmith, 115 

Who was a mighty man in the village, and 

honored of all men ; 
For, since the birth of time, throughout alt 

ages and nations, 
Has the craft of the smith been held in repute 

by the people. 
Basil was Benedict's friend. Their children 

from earliest childhood 
Grew up together as brother and sister ; and 

Father Felician, 120i 

Priest and pedagogue both in the village, had 

taught them their letters 

121. Pedagogue Schoolmaster. 



18 EVANGELINE. 

Out of the self-same book, with the hymns of 

the church and the plain-song. 
But when the hymn was sung, and the daily 

lesson completed, 
Swiftly they hurried away to the forge of 

Basil the blacksmith. 
There at the door they stood, with wonder- 
ing eyes to behold him 125 
Take in his leathern lap the hoof of the horse 

as a plaything, 
Nailing the shoe in its place ; while near him 

the tire of the cart-wheel 
Lay like a fiery snake, coiled around in a 

circle of cinders. 
Oft on autumnal eves, when without in the 

gathering darkness 
Lursting with light seemed the smithy, 

through every cranny and crevice, 130 
Warm by the forge within they watched the 

laboring bellows, 
And as its panting ceased, and the sparks 

expired in the ashes, 
Merrily laughed and said they were nuns 

going into the chapel. 
Oft on sledges in winter, as swift as the 

swoop of the eagle, 

122 Plain-song* In the Catholic Church, music of the simplest kind, 
the tones being of equal length. 



EVANGELINE. 19 

Down the hillside bounding, they glided 

away o'er the meadow. 135 

Oft in the barns they climbed to the popu- 
lous nests on the rafters. 
Seeking with eager eyes that wondrous stone, 

which the swallow 
Brings from the shore of the sea to restore 

the sight of its fled^lin^s ; 
Lucky was he who found that stone in the 

nest of the swallow ! 
Thus passed a few swift years and they no 

longer were children, 140 

He was a valiant youth, and his face, like 

the face of the morning, 
Gladdened the earth with its light, and 

ripened thought into action. 
She was a woman now, with the heart and 

hopes of a woman. 
w Sunshine of Saint Eulalie " was she called ; 

for that was the sunshine 
Which, as the formers believed, would load 

their orchards with apples ; U5 

She, too, would bring to her husband's house 

delight and abundance, 
Filling it full of love and the ruddy faces of 

children. 

144. Saint EuJalif. A female martyr of the early chnrch; V 
man savin? was that •* if the >un Bhone on St. Eulalie's day (Feb. 12) 
there will be apples and cider in plenty.* 1 



II. 

Now had the season returned, when the 
nights grow colder and longer, 

And the retreating sun the sign of the Scor- 
pion enters. 

Birds of passage sailed through the leaden 
air from the ice-bound, m 

Desolate northern bays to the shores of 
tropical islands. 

Harvests were gathered in ; and wild with 
the winds of September 

Wrestled the trees of the forest, as Jacob of 
old with the angel. 

All the signs foretold a winter long and 
inclement. 

Bees, with prophetic instinct of want, had 
hoarded their honey 155 

Till the hives overflowed ; and the Indian 
hunters asserted 

Cold would the winter be, for thick was the 
fur of the foxes. 

Such was the advent of autumn. Then fol- 
lowed that beautiful season, 

149. Scorpion. The eighth constellation of the zodiac, or belt in the 
heavens through which the sun passes in its apparent annual course. 

158. Beautiful season. Indian summer. 
20 



EVANGELINE. 21 

Galled by the pious Acadian peasants the 

Summer of All-Saints ! 
Filled Mas the air with a dreamy and magical 

light : and the landscape 

T -x- "' f ' 

Lay as if new created in all the freshness of 

childhood. 
Peace seemed to reign upon earth, and the 

restless heart of the ocean 
Was for a moment consoled. All sounds 

were in harmony blended. 
Voices of children at play, the erowing of 

cocks in the farm-yards, 
Whir of wings in the drowsy air. and the 

cooing- of pigeons, 
All were subdued and low as the murmurs 

of love, and the great sun 
Looked with the eye of love through the 

golden vapors around him ; 
While arrayed in its robes of russet and 

scarlet and yellow, 
Bright with the sheen of the c^v. each -lit- 
tering tree of the forest 
Flashed like the plane-tree the Persian 
adorned with mantles and jewel-. 

*«M-« ■*><» in honor of '« the saints an .i 

eautiful plane-tree which the Persian Km, , \ 

decked it with mwtleraMd?e^ g MS admJ 



22 EVANGELINE. 

Now recommenced the reign of rest and 

affection and stillness. 
Day with its burden and heat had departed , 

and twilight descending 
Brought back the evening star to the sky, 

and the herds to the homestead. 
Pawing the ground they came, and resting 

their necks on each other, 
And with their nostrils distended inhaling 

the freshness of evening. 175 

Foremost, bearing the bell, Evangeline's 

beautiful heifer, 
Proud of her snow-white hide, and the ribbon 

that waved from her collar, 
Quietly paced and slow, as if conscious of 

human affection. 
Then came the shepherd back with his bleat- 
ing flocks from the seaside, 
Where was their favorite pasture. Behind 

them followed the watch-dog, 180 

Patient, full of importance, and grand in the 

pride of his instinct, 
Walking from side to side with a lordly air, 

and superbly 
Waving his bushy tail, and urging forward 

the stragglers ; 

176. Heifer. A young cow. 



EVANGELINE. 23 

Regent of flocks was he when the shepherd 

slept : their protector. 
When from the forest at night, through the 

starry silence, the wolves howled. 185 

Late, with the rising moon, returned the 

wains from the marshes. 
Laden with briny hay. that filled the air with 

its odor. 
Cheerily neighed the steeds, with dew on 

their manes and their fetlocks, 
While aloft on their shoulders the wooden 

and ponderous saddles, 
Painted with brilliant dyes, and adorned with 

tassels of crimson, 190 

Nodded in bright array, like hollyhocks 

heavy with blossoms. 
Patiently stood the cows meanwhile, and 

yielded their udders 
Unto the milkmaid's hand ; whilst loud and 

in regular cadence 
Into the sounding pails the foaming stream- 
lets descended. 

184. Regent. Ruler, governor. 

188. Fetlock. A tuft of hair behind a horse's foot, also the part where 
this hair grows. 

191. Hollyhock, A. common garden plant with richly colored single 
an«l double flowers. There are many varieties of it. 

192. Udder. The milk-bag of tin 



24 EVANGELINE. 

Lowing of cattle and peals of laughter were 

heard in the farm-yard, 195 

Echoed back by the barns. Anon they sank 

into stillness ; 
Heavily closed, with a jarring sound, the 

valves of the barn-doors, 
Rattled the wooden bars, and all for a season 

was silent. 

Indoors, warm by the wide-mouthed fire- 
place, idly the farmer 
Sat in his elbow-chair, and watched how the 

flames and the smoke-wreaths 2 oo 

Struggled together like foes in a burning city. 

Behind him, 
Nodding and mocking alon<r the wall, with 

gestures fantastic, 
Darted his own huge shadow, and vanished 

away into darkness. 
Faces, clumsily carved in oak, on the back 

of his arm-chair 
Laughed in the flickering light, and the pewter 

plates on the dresser 20:) 

Caught and reflected the flame, as shields of 

armies the sunshine. 
Fragments of song the old man sang, and 

carols of Christmas, 



EVANGELINE. 25 

Such as at home, in the olden time, his 
fathers before him 
Qg in their Norman orchard, and bright 
Burgundian vineyards. 
Close al her father's side was the gentle 

Evangeline seated, 
Spinning flax for the loon., that stood in the 

corner behind her. 
Silent awhile were its treadles, at rest was 

its diligent shuttle, 
While the monotonous drone of the wheel, 

like the drone of a bagpipe, 
Followed the old man's song, and united the 

fragments together. 
As in a church when the chant of the ehoir 

at intervals ceases. 
Footfalls are heard in the aisles, or words of 

the priest at the altar, 
- • in each pause of the song, with measured 
motion the clock clicked. 



Thus as they sat, there were footsteps 
heard, and. suddenly lifted, 
Sounded the wooden latch, and the door 
swung hark on its hinges. 

I '■ Th« wing or side of a church. 



26 EVANGELINE. 

Benedict knew by the hob-nailed shoes it 

was Basil the blacksmith, o 2C 

And by her beating heart Evangeline knew 

who was with him. 
" Welcome ! " the farmer exclaimed as their 

footsteps paused on the threshold, 
"Welcome, Basil, my friend! Come, take 

thy place on the settle 
Close by the chimney-side, which is always 

empty without thee ; 
Take from the shelf overhead thy pipe and 

the box of tobacco ; 225 

Never so much th} r self art thou as when, 

through the curling 
Smoke of the pipe or the forge, thy friendly 

and jovial face gleams 
Round and red as the harvest moon through 

the mist of the marshes.'* 
Then, with a smile of content, thus answered 

Basil the blacksmith, 
Taking with easy air the accustomed seat by 

the fireside : — 230 

"Benedict Bellefontaine, thou hast ever thy 

jest and thy ballad ! 
Ever in cheerful lest mood art thou, when 

others are filled with 
Gloomy forebodings of ill, and see only ruin 

before their 



EVANGELINE. 27 

Happy art thou, as if every day thou hadsl 

picked up a horseshoe." 
Pausing a moment to take the pipe that 

Evangeline brought him, 

... ' 885 

And. with a eoal from the embers had lighted 

he slowly continued: — 
r * Four days now are passed since the English 

ships at their anchors 
Ride in the Gaspereau's mouth, with their 

cannon pointed against us. 
What their design may be is unknown ; but 

all are commanded 
On the morrow to meet in the church, where 

his Majesty's mandate 240 

Will be proclaimed as law in the land. Alas ! 

in the mean time 
Many surmises of evil alarm the hearts of the 

people." 
Then made answer the farmer : — " Perhaps 

some friendlier purpose 
Brings these ships to our shores. Perhaps 

the harvests in England 
By untimely rains or untimelier heat have 

been blighted, 

*. En old times it was counted lucky to find u horse- 
. and even at the present day one Is sometimes nailed over a door- 
keep (vii from the dwelling. 

• • A river in Aca«li.i. 

240. Ma \ ommand. 



28 EVANGELINE. 

And from our bursting barns they would feed 

their cattle and children.'' 
"Not so thinketh the folk in the village,'" 

said, warmly, the blacksmith, 
Shaking his head, as in doubt ; then, heaving 

a sigh, he continued : — 
tr Louisburg is not forgotten, nor Beau Sejour, 

nor Port Royal. 
Many already have fled to the forest, and lurk 

on its outskirts, 250 

Waiting with anxious hearts the dubious fate 

of to-morrow. 
Arms have been taken from us, and warlike 

weapons of all kinds ; 
Nothing is left but the blacksmith's sledge 

and the scythe of the mower." 
Then with a pleasant smile made answer the 

jovial farmer : — 
"Safer are we unarmed, in the midst of our 

flocks and our cornfields, 
Safer within these peaceful dikes, besieged 

by the ocean, 
Than our fathers in forts, besieged by the 

enemy's cannon. 

249. Louisburg is not forgotten, etc. Louisburg-, a place in the island 
of Cape Breton, was attacked and taken by the English in 1745. The 
fort Beau Sejour was bombarded and reduced in 174'.), and Port Koyal 
was taken in the same year. The latter place is now called Annapolis. 
in honor of Queen Anne. 

253. Sledge. A large heavy hammer. 



EVANGELINE. 29 

Fear no evil, my friend, and to-night may 
no shadow of sorrow 

Fall on this house and hearth ; for this is the 

night oi* the contract. 
Built are the house and the barn. The merry 

lads of the village 2 , ;n 

Strongly have built them and well ; and, 

breaking the glebe round about them, 
Filled the barn with hay, and the house with 

food for a twelvemonth. 
Rene Leblanc will be here anon, with his 

papers and inkhorn. 
Shall we rot then be glad, and rejoice in the 

joy of our children?" 
As apart by the window she stood, with her 

hand in her lover's, 265 

Blushing Evangeline heard the words that 

her father had spoken. 
And as they died on his lips, the worthy 

notary entered. 



The night of the contract. The night when the agreement of 
marriage between Gabriel and Evangeline was to be signed- In ancient 
times this was an occasion of great importance and festive rejoicing. 

261. Glebe. Soil, ground. 

fnkhorn. An ink-holder, formerly made of horn. 

287. X< fary. One who attests contracts or deeds, a notary pnbUt 



III. 

Bent like a laboring oar, that toils in the 

surf of the ocean, 
Bent, but not broken, by age was the form 

of the notary public ; 
Shocks of yellow hair, like the silken floss of 

the maize, hung 2-0 

Over his shoulders ; his forehead was high 

and glasses with horn bows 
Sat astride on his nose, with a look of wisdom 

supernal. 
Father of twenty children was he, and more 

than a hundred 
Children's children rode on his knee, and 

heard his great watch tick. 
Four long years in the times of the war had 

he languished a captive, 275. 

Suffering much in an old French fort as the 

friend of the English. 

268. Surf. Swell of the sea breaking on the shore or on rocks. 

270. Silken floss of the maize. In allusion to the fine silk-like threads 
- which hang from the maize or Indian corn. 

272. Supernal. Above, or in a higher region. 

275. Languish. To become feeble, to fade, to be weary,. It.langueo* 
to be weak. 



EVANGELINE. 31 

Now, though warier grown, without all guile 
or suspicion, 

Ripe in wisdom was he, but patient, and 

simple, and childlike. 
He was beloved by all, and most of all by the 

children ; 
For he told them tales of the Loup-garou in 

the forest, 2 so 

And of the goblin that came in the ni^ht to 

water the horses, 
And of the white Letitche, the ghost of a 

child who unchristened 
Died, and was doomed to haunt unseen the 

chambers of children ; 
And how on Christmas eve the oxen talked 

in the stable, 
And how the fever was cured by a spider 

shut up in a nutshell, 285 

And of the marvellous powers of four-leaved 

clover and horseshoes, 
With whatsoever else was writ in the lore of 

the village. 

J77. Warier. Comp. of irary, cautious, prudent. 
Guile. Cunning, deceit. Fr. guile. 

Loup-garou. Lit. man-wolf. A human being changed Into 
wolf and greedy for human flesh. In this and the following seven lines 
allusion is made to traditional and fairy stories known at that time in 

iia. 

281. Goblin. An evil spirit, a fairy. 

2?7. Lore. Learning, store of knowledge. 



32 EVANGELINE. 

Then up rose from his seat by the fireside 

Basil the blacksmith, 
Knocked from his pipe the ashes, and slowly 

extended his right hand, 
'Father Leblanc," he exclaimed, "thou hast 

heard the talk in the village, m 

And, perchance, canst tell us some news of 

these ships and their errand," 
Then with modest demeanor made answer the 

notary public, — 
" Gossip enough have I heard, in sooth, yet 

am never the wiser ; 
And what their errand may be I know not 

better than others, 
Yet am I not ot those who imagine some evil 

intention 295 

Brings them here, for we are at peace ; and 

why then molest us?" 
M God's name ! " shouted the hasty and some- 
what irascible blacksmith ; 
" Must we in all things look for the how, and 

the why, and the wherefore ? 
Daily injustice is done, and might is the right 

of the strongest ! " 
But without heeding his warmth, continued 

the notary public, — 300 

w Man is unjust, but God is just ; and finally 

justice 



EVANGELINE. 33 

Triumphs : and well I remember a story, 

that often consoled me, 
When as a captive I lay in the old French 

fort at Port Royal/' 
This was the old man's favorite tale, and he 

loved to repeat it 
When his neighbors complained that any 

injustice was done them. 305 

"Once in an ancient city, whose name I no 

longer remember, 
Raised aloft on a column, a brazen statue of 

Justice 
Stood in the public square, upholding the 

scales in its left hand, 
And in its right a sword, as an emblem that 

justice presided 
Over the laws of the land, and the hearts and 

homes of the people. 310 

Even the birds had built their nests in the 

scales of the balance, 
Having no fear of the sword that flashed in 

the sunshine above them. 
But in the course of time the laws of the land 

were corrupted : 
Might took the place of right, and the weak 

were oppressed, and the mighty 
Ruled with an iron rod. Then it chanced in 

a nobleman's palace 



34 EVANGELIXE. 

That a necklace of pearls was lost, and ere 

long a suspicion 
Fell on an orphan girl who lived as maid in 

the household. 
She, after form of trial condemned to die on 

the scaffold, 
Patiently met her doom at the foot of the 

statue of Justice. 
As to her Father in heaven her innocent 

spirit ascended, 3<i0 

Lo ! o'er the city a tempest rose ; and the 

bolts of the thunder 
Smote the statue of bronze, and hurled in 

w r rath from its left hand 
Down on the pavement below the clattering 

scales of the balance, 
And in the hollow thereof was found the nest 

of a magpie, 
Into whose clay-built walls the necklace of 

pearls was inwoven." 325 

Silenced, but not convinced, when the story 

w T as ended, the blacksmith 
Stood like a man who fain would speak, but 

findeth no language ; 

319. Justice. Justice is represented as a blindfolded female standing 
with a sword in one hand and a pair of scales in the other. L.justitia, 
from jws, right, law. 

321. Bolt of thunder. Stream of lightning; so named from its darting 
like a bolt or arrow. Jupiter, the god of thunder, is represented with 
thunder-bolts in his hand . 



EVANGELINE. 35 

All his thoughts were congealed into lines on 
his face, as the vapors 

Freeze in fantastic shapes on the window- 
panes in the winter. 

Then Evangeline lighted the brazen lamp 

on the table, m 

Filled, till it overflowed, the pewter tankard 

with home-brewed 
Nut-brown ale, that was famed for its strength 

in the village of Grand-Piv ; 
While from his pocket the notary drew his 

papers and inkhorn, 
Wrote with a steady hand the date and the 

age of the parties, 
Naming the dower of the bride in flocks of 

sheep and in cattle. 3?5 

Orderly all things proceeded, and duly and 

well were completed, 
And the great seal of the law was set like a 

sun on the margin. 
Then from his leathern pouch the farmer 

threw on the table 

335. boirtr. Marriage-portion. 

8eal. Tbe Impressed wax attached to public or legal writ 
pr«»of of their beittg completed, also the -t;nnp by which the Impn - 
is made. 



36 EVANGELINE. 

Three times the old man's fee in solid pieces 

of silver ; 
And the notary rising, and blessing the bride 

and the bridegroom, 340 

Lifted aloft the tankard of ale and drank to 

their welfare. 
Wiping the foam from his lip he solemnly 

bowed and departed. 
While in silence the others sat and mused by 

the fireside, 
Till Evangeline brought the draught-board 

out of its corner. 
Soon was the game begun. In friendly con- 
tention the old men 

345 

Laughed at each lucky hit, or unsuccessful 

manoeuvre, 
Laughed when a man was crowned, or a 

breach was made in the kin^-row, 
Meanwhile apart, in the twilight gloom of a 

window's embrasure, 
Sat the lovers, and whispered together, 

beholding the moon rise 
Over the pallid sea and the silvery mist of 

the meadows. 35o 

346. Manoeuvre. Lit. hand-work, skilful management. 

348. Embrasure. The wide opening of a wall inside where a window 
or door is plac-ed ; an opening in a wall for cannon. 



EVANGELINE 



Silently one by one, in the infinite meadows 

of heaven. 
Blossomed the lovely star-, the forget-me- 

nots of the angels. 



Thus was the evening passed. Anon the 

hell from the belfry 
Rana' out the hour of nine, the village curfew, 

and straightway 
Rose the guests and departed ; and silence 

reigned in the household. 355 

Many a farewell word and sweet good-night 

on the door-step 
Lingered long in Evangeline's heart, and 

tilled it with gladness. 
Carefully then were covered the embers that 

glowed on the hearthstone. 
And on the oaken stairs resounded the tread 

of the farmer, 
Soon with a soundless step the foot of Evan- 
geline followed. 
Up the staircase moved a luminous -pace in 

the darkness, 
Lighted less by the lamp than the shining 

face of the maiden. 

Lnc. the hoar f<>r patting <>i!t the hou* -:i> e ai 
rest. Fr. couvreft ■■. cover Are. 



38 EVANGELINE. 

Silent she passed the hall, and entered the 

door of her chamber. 
Simple that chamber was, with its curtains 

of white, and its clothes-press 
Ample and high, on whose spacious shelves 

were carefully folded 365 

Linens and woollen stuffs, by the hand of 

Evangeline woven. 
This was the precious dower she would bring 

to her husband in marriage, 
Better than flocks and herds, being proofs of 

her skill as a housewife. 
Soon she extinguished her lamp, for the mel- 
low and radiant moonlight 
Streamed through the windows, and lighted 

the room, till the heart of the maiden 370 
Swelled and obeyed its power, like the tremu- 
lous tides of the ocean. 
Ah ! she was fair, exceedingly fair to behold, 

as she stood with 
"Naked snow-white feet on the gleaming floor 

v of her chamber ! 
Little she dreamed that below, among the 

trees of the orchard, 
Waited her lover and watched for the gleam 

of her lamp and her shadow. 375 

l r et were her thoughts of him, and at times a 

feeling of sadness 



Evangeline. 3^ 

Passed o'er her soul, as the sailing shade oi 
clouds in the moonlight, 

Flitted across the floor and darkened the room 
for a moment. 

And. as she gazed from the window, slie saw 
serenely the moon pass 

Forth from the folds of a cloud, and one star 
follow her footsteps, m 

As out of Abraham's tent young Ishmael wan- 
dered w r ith Hagar ! 



IV. 

Pleasantly rose next morn the sun on the 
village of Grand-Pre. 

Pleasantly gleamed in the soft, sweet air the 
Basin of Minas, 

Where the ships, with their wavering shad- 
ows, were riding at anchor. 

Life had long been astir in the village, and 

clamorous labor 

885 
Ivnocked with its hundred hands at the golden 

gates of the morning. 
Now from the country around, from the farms 

and neighboring hamlets, 
Came in their holiday dresses, the blithe 

Acadian peasants ; 
Many a glad good-morrow and jocund laugh 

from the young folk 
Made the bright air brighter, as up from the 

numerous meadows, 
Whexe no path could be seen but the track 

of wheels in the greensward, 
Group after group appeared, and joined, or 

passed on the highway. 

387. Hamlet. A small village, a few houses collected together 
40 



390 



EVANGELINE. 41 

Long ere noon, in the village till sounds of 

labor were silenced. 
Thronged were the streets with people ; and 

noisy groups at the house-doors 
Sat in the cheerful sun, and rejoiced and 

gossiped together. 395 

Every house was an inn, where all were 

welcomed and feasted ; 
For with this simple people, w T ho lived like 

brothers together, 
All things were held in common, and what 

one had was another's. 
Yet under Benedict's roof hospitality seemed 

more abundant : 
For Evangeline stood among the guests of 

her father ; m 

Bright was her face with smiles, and words 

of welcome and gladness 
Fell from her beautiful lips, and blessed the 

cup as she gave it. 

Under the open sky, in the odorous air of 
the orchard, 
Stript of its golden fruit, was spread the 
feast of betrothal. 



Betrothal. : merit between two persons for a future 

uth. 



42 EVANGELINE. 

There in the shade of the porch were the 

priest and the notary seated ; 405 

There good Benedict sat, and sturdy Basil 

the blacksmith. 
Not far withdrawn from these, by the cider- 
press and the bee-hives, 
Michael the fiddler was placed, with the 

gayest of hearts and of waist-coats. 
Shadow and light from the leaves alternately 

played on his snow-white 
Hair, as it waved in the wind ; and the jolly 

face of the fiddler 410 

Glowed like a living coal when the ashes are 

blown from the embers. 
Gaily the old man sang to the vibrant sound 

of his fiddle, 
Tous les Bourgeois de Chartres, and Le 

Carillon de Dunkerque, 
And anon with his wooden shoes beat time to 

the music. 
Merrily, merrily whirled the wheels of the 

dizzying dances 4I5 

Under the orchard trees and down the path 

to the meadows ; 



413. Tous les, etc. " All the Good Folks of Chartres " and " The 
Vmmes of Dunkirk,"' the names of two old French airs. 

414. Anon, Immediately, at once. 



EVANGELINE. 43 

Old folk and young together, and children 

mingled among them. 
Fairest of all the maids was Evangeline, 

Benedict's daughter ! 
Noblest of all the youths was Gabriel, son of 

the blacksmith ! 

So passed the morning away. And lo ! 

with a summons sonorous 420 

3 unded the bell from its tower, and over 

the meadows a drum beat. 
Thronged ere long was the church with men. 

Without, in the churchyard, 
Waited the women. They stood by the 

graves and hung on the headstones 
Garlands of autumn-leaves and evergreens 

fresh from the forest. 
Then came the guard from the ships, and 



marching proudly among them 



425 



Entered the sacred portal. With loud and 



dissonant clangor 



Sonorous, Load-sounding. I,, tonus, sound. 

4_'4. Garlands, frowns or wreaths, composed generally of leaves or 

loor. L. porta. 

Dissonant. og in Bound, not harmonious. I., dis 

•und. 

Clangor. A sharp, har-li sound. I.. / j ■ . 1 1 1 • - -omul of a 
pet. 



44 EVANGELINE. 

Echoed the sound of their brazen drums 

from ceiling and casement, — 
Echoed a moment only, and slowly the 

ponderous portal 
Closed, and in silence the crowd awaited the 

will of the soldiers. 
Then uprose their commander, and spake 

from the steps of the altar, 4H0 

Holding aloft in his hands, with its seals, the 

royal commission. 
"You are convened this day/' he said, "by 

his Majesty's orders. 
Clement and kind has he been ; but how 

have you answered his kindness. 
Let your own hearts reply ! To my natural 

make and my temper 
Painful the task is I do, which to you I 

know must be grievous. 435 

Yet must I bow and obey, and deliver the 

will of our monarch ; 
Namely, that all your lands, and dwellings, 

and cattle of all kinds, 
Forfeited be to the crown ; and that you 

yourselves from this province 

427. Casement. The case or frame of a window. 

428. Ponderous. Heavy. 1j. pondiis, ponderis. a weight 

431. Commission. A writing giving one authority to do something,. 



EVANGELINE. 4 5 

I>e transported to other lands. God grant 

that you may dwell there 
Ever as faithful subjects, a happy and peace- 
able people ! 440 
Prisoners now I declare you ; for such is his 

Majesty's pleasure ! " 
As, when the air is serene in the sultry 

solstice of summer, 
Suddenly gathers a storm, and the deadly 

sling of the hailstones 
Beats down the farmers corn in the fields 

and shatters his windows, 
Hiding the sun, and strewing the ground 

with thatch from the house-roofs, 415 

Bellowing fly the herds, and seek to break 

their inclosures ; 
So on the hearts of the people descended the 

words of the speaker. 
Silent a moment they stood in speechless 

wonder, and then rose 
Louder and ever louder a wail of sorrow and 

anger. 
And, by one impulse moved, they madly 

rushed to the doorway. 45 ° 

Vain was the hope of escape ; and cries and 

tierce imprecations 

442. I be time in mill-summer and mid-winter when the Bnn 

seems to stand still, or when it arrive- at the point farthest nortli or 
south <>f the equator. L. sol. the Bun, and *<*fo, to make to stand. 



46 EVANGELINE. 

Rang through the house of prayer ; and high 

o'er the heads of the others 
Rose, with his arms uplifted, the figure of 

Basil the blacksmith, 
A.s, on a stormy sea, a spar is tossed by the 

billows. 
Flushed was his face and distorted with 

passion ; and wildly he shouted, — 
" Down with the tyrants of England ! we 

never have sworn them allegiance ! 
Peath to these foreign soldiers, who seize on 

our homes and our harvests ! " 
More he fain would have said, but the 

merciless hand of a soldier 
Smote him upon the mouth, and dragged 

him down to the pavement. 

In the midst of the strife and tumult of 

angry contention, 
Lo ! the door of the chancel opened, and 

Father Felician 
Entered, with serious mien, and ascended the 

steps of the altar. 

456. Allegiance. The bond between a subject and his king; to bind. 

461. Chancel. The part of a church in front of the altar, fc.merly 
inclosed by cross-bars or lattice work; now with rails. 

462. Mien. Appearance of the face, look, air, manner 



EVANGELINE. 47 

Raising his reverend hand, with a gesture he 
awed into silence 

All that clamorous throng ; and thus he spake 
tu his people ; 

Deep were his tones and solemn ; in accents 
measured and mournful 465 

.^pake he, as, after the tocsin's alarum, dis- 
tinctly the clock strikes. 

**What is this that ye do, my children? 
what madness has seized you? 

Forty years of my life have I labored among 
you, and taught you, 

Sot in word alone, but in deed, to love one 
another ! 

Is this the fruit of my toils, of my vigils and 
prayers and privations? m 

Have you so soon forgotten all lessons of 
love and forgiveness? 

This is the house of the Prince of Peace, and 
would you profane it 

Thus with violent deeds and hearts overflow- 
ing with hatred ? 

[<0 ! where the crucified Christ from his cross 
is gazing upon you ! 

TocHnU alarum. The alarm or "earning sound given by the 
bell of a clock before it strikes the hour. Tocsin, a warning bell. 

470. Vi<jils. Watching, fa-tings and religious services during the 

niirbr. 



48 EVANGELINE. 

See ! in those sorrowful eyes what meekness 

and holy compassion ! 475 " 

Hark ! how those lips still repeat the prayer, 

f O Father, forgive them ! ' 
Let us repeat that prayer in the hour when 

the wicked assail us, 
Let us repeat it now, ! O Father forgive 

them ! ' 
Few were his words of rebuke, but deep in 

the hearts of his people 
Sank they, and sobs of contrition succeeded 

the passionate outbreak, 480 

While they repeated his prayer, and said ' f O 

Father, forgive them ! " 

Then came the evening service. The 

tapers gleamed from the altar. 
Fervent and deep was the voice of the priest, 

and the people responded, 
Not with their lips alone, but their hearts; 

and the Ave Maria 
Sang they, and fell on their knees, and their 

souls with devotion translated, 
Rose on the ardor of prayer, like Elijah 

ascending to heaven. 

484. Ave Maria. The first two words of the invocation " Hail- 
Mary." 

485. Translated. Lit. carried over, carried out of themselves. 



I 



EVANGELINE. 



Meanwhile had spread in the village the 
tidings of ill, and on all sides 

Wandered, wailing, tVom house to house the 

women and children. 
Long at her father's door Evangeline stood, 

with her right hand 
Shielding her eyes from the level rays of the 

sun, that, deseending. 
Lighted the village street with mysterious 

-plendor, and roofed eaeh 
Peasant's cottage with golden thatch, and 

emblazoned its windows. 
Long within had been spread the snow-white 

cloth on the table ; 
There stood the wheaten loaf, and the honey 

fragrant with wild-flowers : 
There stood the tankard of ale, and the 

cheese fresh brought from the dairy ; 495 
And, at the head of the board, the great arm- 
chair of the farmer. 
Thus did Evangeline wait at her father's 

door, as the sunset 
Threw the long shadows of trees o'er the 

broad ambrosial meadow-. 



492. Emblazoned. Docked in bright, (laming colors. From blaze, a 
flame. 






Auihronal. Pleasant to the ttsU or smell, delightful. 



50 EVANGELINE. 

Ah ! on her spirit within a deeper shadow 

had fallen, 
And from the fields of her soul a fragrance 

celestial ascended, — 500 

Charity, meekness, love, and hope, and for- 
giveness, and patience ! 
Then, all-forgetful of self, she wandered into 

the village, 
Cheering with looks and words the mournful 

hearts of the women, 
As over the darkening fields with lingering 

sreps they departed, 
Urged by their household cares, and the 

weary feet of their children. 505 

Down sank the great red sun, and in golden 

glimmering vapors 
Veiled the light of his face, like the prophet 

descending from Sinai ; 
Sweetly over the village the bell of the 

Angelus sounded. 

Meanwhile, amid the gloom by the church 

Evangeline lingered. 
All was silent within ; and in vain at the 

doors and the windows 
Stood she, and listened and looked, till, 

overcome by emotion, 



EVANGELINE. 51 

ff Gabriel ! n cried she aloud with tremulous 
voice ; but no answer 

Came from the graves of the dead, nor the 
gloomier grave of the living. 

Slowly at length she returned to the tenant- 
less house of her father. 

Smouldered the tire on the hearth, on the 
board was the supper untasted, 

Empty and drear was each room, and haunted 
with phantoms of terror 

Sadly echoed her step on the stair and the 
floor of her chamber. 

In the dead of the night she heard the dis- 
consolate rain fall ' 

Loud on the withered leaves of the sycamore- 
tree by the window, 

Keenly the lightning flashed ; and the voice 
of the echoing thunder 52 ° 

Told her that God was in heaven, and gov- 
erned the world he created ! 

Then she remembered the tale she had heard 
of the justice of Heaven ; 

Soothed was her troubled soul, and she 
peacefully slumbered till morning. 

513. Gloomier grave of the living. The church in which the men were 
shut up. 



T. 

Four times the sun has arisen and set ; 

and now on the fifth day 
Cheerily called the cock to the sleeping 

maids of the farmhouse. , 525 

Soon o'er the yellow fields, in silent and 

mournful procession, 
Came from the neighboring hamlets and 

farms the Acadian women, 
Driving in ponderous wains their household 

goods to the seashore, 
Pausing and looking back to gaze once more 

on their dwellings, 
Ere they were shut from sight by the wind- 
ing road and the woodland. 530 
Close at their sides their children ran and 

urged on the oxen, 
While in their little hands they clasped some 

fragments of playthings. 

Thus to the Gaspereau's mouth they hur- 
ried ; and there on the sea-beach, 
Piled in confusion, lay the household goods 
of the peasants. 

534. Peasants. Dwellers in villages, country people. 
52 



EVANGELINE. 53 

All day long between the shore and the ships 

did the boats ply ; 635 

All day long the wains came laboring down 

from the village. 
Late in the afternoon, when the sun was near 

to his setting, 
Echoed far o'er the fields came the roll of 

drums from the churchyard. 
Thither the women and children thronged. 

On a sudden the church-doors 
Opened, and forth came the guard, and 

marching in gloom v procession f4 ° 

Followed the long imprisoned, but patient, 

Acadian farmers. 
Even as pilgrims, who journey afar from 

their homes and their country, 
Sing as they go, and in singing forget they 

are weary and wayworn. 
So with songs on their lips the Acadian 

peasants descended 
Down from the church to the shore, amid 

their wives and their daughters. 545 

Foremost the young men came ; and raising 

together their voices, 
Sang with tremulous lips a chant of the 

Catholic Missions : — 
"Sacred heart of the Saviour! Oh, inex- 
haustible fountain ! 



54 EVANGELINE. 

Fill our hearts this day with strength and 

submission and patience ! " 
Then the old men, as they marched, and the 

women that stood by the w T ayside 55 ° 

Joined in the sacred psalm, and the birds in 

tie sunshine above them 
Mingled their notes therewith, like voices of 

spirits departed. 

Half-way down to the shore Evangeline 
waited in silence, 

Not overcome with grief, but strong in the 
hour of affliction, — 

Calmly and sadly she waited, until the pro- 
cession approached her, 555 

And she beheld the face of Gabriel pale with 
emotion. 

Tears then filled her eyes, and, eagerly run- 
ning to meet him, 

Clasped she his hands, and laid her head on 
his shoulder, and whispered, — 

ff Gabriel ! be of good cheer ! for if we love- 
one another 

Nothing, in truth, can harm us, whatever 
mischances may happen ! " 560 

Smiling she spake these words ; then sud- 
denly paused, for her father 



EVANGELINE. DO 

Saw she slowly advancing. Alas ! how 

changed was his aspect ! 
Gone was the glow from his check, and the 

fire from his eye, and his footstep 
Heavier seemed with the weight of the heavy 

heart in his bosom. 
But with a smile and a sigh, she clasped his 

neck and embraced him, 665 

Speaking words of endearment where words 

of comfort availed not. 
Thus to the Gaspereau's mouth moved on 

that mournful procession. 

There disorder prevailed, and the tumult 

and stir of embarking. 
Busily plied the freighted boats ; and in the 

confusion 
Wives were torn from their husbands, and 

mothers, too late, saw their children 57(> 
Left on the land, extending their arms in 

wildest entreaties. 
So unto separate ships were Basil and 

Gabriel carried, 
While in despair on the shore Evangeline 

stood with her father. 
Half the task was not done when the sun 
. went down, and the twilight 



56 EVANGELINE. 

Deepened and darkened around ; and in haste 
the refluent ocean 575 

Fled away from the shore, and left the line 
of the sand-beach 

Covered with waifs of the tide, with kelp 
and the slippery sea-weed. 

Farther back in the midst of the household 
goods and the wagons, 

Like to a gypsy camp, or a leaguer after a 
battle, 

All escape cut oft' by the sea and the senti- 
nels near thenr, 68 ° 

Lay encamped for the night the houseless 
Acadian farmers. 

Back to its nethermost caves retreated the 
bellowing ocean, 

Dragging adown the beach the rattling peb- 
bles, and leaving 

Inland and far up the shore the stranded 
boats of the sailors. 

Then, as the night descended, the herds 
returned from their pastures ; 

575. Refluent. Going back, ebbing. 

577. Waifs. Things without an owner, as what a thief throws away 
when pursued; what the tide easts on the shore. 

Kelp. A sea-weed from which the medicine iodine is made. 

579. Leaguer. A camp. 

582. Nethermost. Lowest. 



EVANGELINE. 57 

Sweet was the moist still air with the odor 
of milk from their adders ; 

Lowing they waited, and Ions, a t the well 

known bars of the farmyard, — 
Waited and looked in vain for the voice and 

the hand of the milkmaid. 
Silence reigned in the streets; from the 

church no Angelas sounded, 
Rose no smoke from the roofs, and gleamed 

no lights from the windows. ?>w 



But on the shores meanwhile the evening 

tires had been kindled, 
Built of the drift-wood thrown on the sands 

from wrecks in the tempest. 
Round them shapes of gloom and sorrowful 

faces were gathered. 
Voices of women were heard, and of men, 

and the crying of children. 
Onward from tire to tire, as from hearth to 

hearth in his parish, n* 

Wandered the faithful priest, consoling and 

blessing and cheering, 
Like unto shipwrecked Paul on Melita's 

desolate sea-shore. 
Thus he approached the place where Evan- 
line sat with her father. 



58 EVANGELINE. 

And in the flickering light beheld the face of 

the old man, 
Haggard and hollow and wan, and without 

either thought or emotion, 
E'en as the face of a clock from which the 

hands had been taken. 
Vainly Evangeline strove with words and 

caresses to cheer him, 
Vainly offered him food; yet he moved not, 

he looked not, he spake not, 
But, with a vacant stare, ever gazed at the 

flickering fire-light. 
" Benedicite!" murmured the priest, in tones 

of compassion. 605 

More he fain would have said, but his heart 

was full, and his accents 
Faltered and paused on his lips, as the feet 

of a child on a threshold, 
Hushed by the scene he beholds, and the 

awful presence of sorrow. 
Silently, therefore, he laid his hand on the 

head of the maiden, 
Raising his tearful eyes to the silent stars 

that above them 61 ° 

600. Wan. Pale, sickly. 

605. Benedicite. The first word of the Latin form of blessing. 



EVANGELINE. 59 

Moved on their way, unperturbed by the 
wrongs and sorrows of mortals. 

Then sat he down at her side, and they wept 
together in silence. 

Suddenly rose from the south a light, as in 

autumn the blood-red 
Moon climbs the crystal walls of heaven, and 

o'er the horizon 
Titan-like stretches its hundred hands upon 

mountain and meadow, 615 

Seizing the rocks and the rivers, and piling 

huge shadows together. 
Broader and ever broader it gleamed on the 

roofs of the village, 
Gleamed on the sky and the sea, and the 

ships that lay in the roadstead. 
Columns of shining smoke uprose, and flashes 

of flame w^ere 
Thrust through their folds and withdrawn, 

like the quivering hands of a martyr. 620 
Then as the wind seized the gleeds and the 

burning thatch, and, uplifting, 

611. Unperturbed. Not disturbed or disordered, unmoved. 

r.15. Titan-like. The Titan- were a fabled race who waged war with 
the gods. Briareus and his brothers, who engaged in these wars, are 
to have had a hundred arms and tifty heads. 

filS. Roadstead. A place where ships can He or ride at anchor. 

Gl^ed. a burning coal, a fire. 



00 EVANGELINE. 

Whirled them aloft through the air, at once 

from a hundred housetops 
Started the sheeted smoke with flashes of 

flame intermingled. 

These things beheld in dismay the crowd 

on the shore and on shipboard. 
Speechless at first they stood, then cried 

aloud in their anguish, 625 

w We shall behold no more our homes in the 

village of Grand-Pre ! " 
Loud on a sudden the cocks began to crow 

in the farmyards, 
Thinking the day had dawned ; and anon the 

lowing of cattle 
Came on the evening breeze, by the barking 

of dogs interrupted. 
Then rose a sound of dread, such as startles 

the sleeping encampments 
Far in the western prairies or forests that 

skirt the Nebraska, 
When the wild horses affrighted sweep by 

with the speed of the whilwind, 
Or the loud bellowing herds of buffaloes rush 

to the river. 

631. Nebraska. The Platte River, Nebraska. . 



EVANGELINE. 61 

Such was the sound that arose on the night, 

as the herds and the horses 
Broke through their folds and fences, and 

madly rushed o'er the meadows. ^ 

Overwhelmed with the sight ;> T et speech- 

less, the priest and the maiden 
dazed on the scene of terror that reddened 

and widened before them ; 
And as they turned at length to speak to 

their silent companion, 
Lo ! from his seat he had fallen, and stretched 

abroad on the seashore 
Motionless lay his form, from which the soul 

had departed. 64 ° 

Slowly the priest uplifted the lifeless head, 

and the maiden 
Knelt itt her fathers side, and wailed aloud 

in her terror. 
Then in a swoon she sank, and lay with her 

head on his bosom. 
Through the long night she lay in deep, 

oblivious slumber ; 
And when she w T oke from the trance, she 

beheld a multitude near her. *** 

Forgetful. L. ohlirio. forget fulness. 



OZ E VANGELIXE . 

Faces of friends she beheld, that" were 

mournfully gazing upon her, 
Pallid, with tearful eyes, and looks of sad- 
dest compassion. 
Still the blaze of the burning village illumined 

the landscape, 
Reddened the sky overhead, and gleamed on 

the faces around her, 
And like the day of doom it seemed to her 

wavering senses. * M 

Then a familiar voice she heard, as it said to 

the people, — 
"Let us bury him here by the sea. When a 

happier season 
Brings us again to our homes from the 

unknown land of our exile, 
Then shall his sacred dust be piously laid in 

the church-yard." 
Such were the words of the priest. And 

there in haste by the sea-side, t55 

Having the glare of the burning village for 

funeral torches, 
But without bell or book, they buried the 

farmer of Grand-Pr6. 
And as the voice of the priest repeated the 

service of sorrow, 

657. Without bell or took. Without the rite* ok ceremonies of the 
Church. 



EVANGELINE. 63 

Lo ! with a mournful sound, like the voice of 

a vast congregation, 
Solemnly answered the sea, and mingled its 

roar with the dirges ; 66 °* 

Twas the returning tide, that afar from the 

waste of the ocean, 
With the tirst dawn of the day, came heaving 

and hurrying landward. 
Then recommenced once more the stir and 

noise of embarking ; 
And with the ebb of the tide the ships sailed 

out of the harbor, 
Leaving behind them the dead on the shore, 

and the village in ruins. 665 

660. Dirge. A mournful song or tune. Contracted from the words 
beginning the funeral service in Latin, Dirige, Domine not, w Direct 
us, O Lord." 



PART THE SECOND. 



Many a weary year had passed since the 

burning of Grand Pre, 
When on the falling tide the freighted vessels 

departed, 
Bearing a nation, with all its household gods, 

into exile, 
Exile without an end, and without an 

example in story. 
Far asunder, on separate coasts, the Acadians 

landed ; 67 ° 

Scattered were they, like flakes of snow, 

when the wind from the north-east 
Strikes aslant through the fogs that darken 

the Banks of Newfoundland. 
Friendless, homeless, hopeless, they wan- 
dered from city to city, 
From the cold lakes of the North to sultry 

Southern savannahs, — 

668. Household gods. Anc. the gods presiding over the house or 
family, now objects endeared to us as connected with home. 

668. Exile. Banishment from one's native land. 

672. Newfoundland. A large island in the Atlantic Ocean near Nova 
Scotia. The Banks are extensive fishing grounds off its coast, where 
dense fogs often prevail. 

674. Savannahs. Prairies, vast treeless plaiss. 
64 



EVANGELINE* tf5 

From the bleak shores of the sea to the land- 
where the Father of Waters 

Seizes the hills in his hands, and drags them 
down to the ocean, 

Deep in their sands to bury the scattered 
bones of the mammoth. 

Friends they sought and homes; and many, 
despairing, heart-broken, 

Asked of the earth but a grave, and no longer 
a friend nor a fireside. 

Written their history stands on tablets of 
stone in the church-yards. 6S0 

Long among them was seen a maiden who 
waited and wandered, 

Lowly and meek in spirit, and patiently 
suffering all things, 

Fair was she and young ; but, alas ! before 
her extended, 

Dreary and vast and silent, the desert of life 
with its pathway 

Marked by the graves of those who had sor- 
rowed and suffered before her. 

Passions long extinguished, and hopes long 
dead and abandoned, 6S5 

ITS. The Father of Waters, etc. The Mississippi (meaning '• Father 
of Waters n or "(Treat Waters*'), the largest river of North America. 
above 3,000 miles in length. It has a rapid current, loaded with -oil 
carried down from its high bank-. 

877. Mammoth. An extinct, species of elephant whose bones and 
tusks are found embedded in the earth in some parts of the world. 



66 EVANGELINE. 

As the emigrant's way o'er the Western des- 
ert is marked by- 
Camp-fires long consumed, and bones that 

bleach in the sunshine. 
Something there was in her life incomplete, 

imperfect, unfinished ; 
As if a morning of June, with all its music 

and sunshine, 69 ° 

Suddenly paused in the sky, and, fading, 

slowly descended 
Into the east again, from whence it late had 

arisen. 
Sometimes she lingered in towns, till, urged 

by the fever within her, 
Urged by a restless longing, the hunger and 

thirst of the spirit, 
She would commence again her endless search 

and endeavor ; 695 

Sometimes in church-yards strayed, and 

gazed on the crosses and tombstones, 
Sat by some nameless grave, and thought 

that perhaps in its bosom 
He was already at rest, and she longed to 

slumber beside him. 
Sometimes a rumor, a hearsay, an inarticu- 
late w r hisper, 

699. Inarticulate, Not distinctly spoken, low, broken, disjointed. 



EVANGELINE. fi7 

Came with its airy hand to point and beckon 
her forward. 70 ° 

Sometimes she spake with those who had seen 
her beloved and known him, 

But it was long ago, in some far-off place or 
forgotten. 

w Gabriel Lajeunesse ! " they said ; " O yes ! 
we have seen him. 

He was with Basil the blacksmith, and both 
have gone to the prairies ; 

Coureurs-des-Bois are they, and famous hunt- 
ers and trappers/' :o> 

' c Gabriel Lajeunesse ! " said others ; ff O yes ! 
we have seen him. 

He is a Yoyageur in the lowlands of Louisi- 
ana." 

Then would they say, w Dear child ! why 
dream and wait for him longer? 

Are there not other youths as fair as Gabriel ? 
others 

Who have hearts as tender and true, and 
spirits as loyal? 71 ° 

Here is Baptiste Leblanc, the notary's son, 
who has loved thee 

705. Coureurs-rles-Bois. Lit. runners of the woods, bushri 
men who bought fnr--kins from the native tribes. 

Trapj erg. lien employed catching beavers and other wild ani- 

- in traps. 

707. Voyageur. Lit. traveler, a river boatman. 



68 EVANGELINE. 

Many a tedious year; come, give him thy 
hand and be happy ! 

Thou art too fair to be left to braid St. 
Catherine's tresses." 

Then would Evangeline answer, serenely but 
sadly, w I cannot ! 

Whither my heart has gone, there follows my 
hand, and not elsewhere. 715 

For when the heart goes before, like a lamp, 
and illumines the pathway, 

Many things are made clear, that else lie hid- 
den in darkness." 

Thereupon the priest, her friend and father- 
confessor, 

Said, w T ith a smile, " O daughter ! thy God 
thus speaketh within thee ! 

Talk not of wasted affection, affection never 
was wasted ; m 

If it enrich not the heart of another, its 
waters, returning 

Back to their springs, like the rain, shall fill 
them full of refreshment ; 

That which the fountain sends forth returns 
again to the fountain. 

713. Tobraid St. Catherine's tresses. To remain unmarried, a phrase 
said to be derived from the practice of unmarried women dressing th* 
heads of the statues of St. Catherine, the patron saint of virgins. 

718. Father -confessor. The priest to whom she confessed. 



EVANGELINE, fi ( j 

Patience: accomplish thy labor ; accomplish 
thy work of affection ! 

Sorrow and silence are strong, and patient 
endurance is godlike. 725 

Therefore accomplish thy labor of love, till 
the heart is made godlike, 

Purified, strengthened, perfected, and ren- 
dered more worthy of heaven ! " 

Cheered by the good mans words, Evange- 
line labored and waited. 

Still in her heart she had heard the funeral 
dirge of the ocean, 

But with its sound there was mingled a voice 
that whispered, "Despair not ! " 

Thus did that poor soul wander in want and 
cheerless discomfort. 

Bleeding, barefooted, over the shards and 
thorns of existence. 

Let me essay, O Muse ! to follow the wan- 
derer's footsteps ; — 

Xot through each devious path, each change- 
ful year of existence ; 

But as a traveller follows a streamlet's course 
through the valley ; 735 

Shard. A piece of a broken earthen vessel, or of any brittle 
tanei — troubles. 

73-. ro try. Yv fssayer. 

I t of tbe common way. rambling. L. <fe, from, and 
way. 



70 EYANGELINE. 

Far from its margin at times, and seeing the 
gleam of its water 

Here and there, in some open space, and at 
intervals only ; 

Then drawing nearer its banks, through syl- 
van glooms that conceal it, 

Though he behold it not, he can hear its con- 
tinuous murmur ; 

Happy, at length if he find the spot where it 
reaches an outlet. 740 

736. Gleam. See note 373. 

738. Sylvan (or Silvan). Belonging to a wood or forest, covered 
with trees. L. silva, a wood. 



II. 

It was the month of May. Far down the 
Beautiful River, 

Past the Ohio shore and past the mouth of 

the Wabash, 
Into the golden stream of the broad and 

swift Mississippi, 
Floated a cumberous boat, that was rowed by 

Acadian boatmen. 
It was a band of exiles; a raft, as it were, 

from the shipwrecked 745 

Nation, scattered along the coast, now float- 
ing together, 
Bound by the bonds of a common belief and 

a common misfortune ; 
Men and women and children, who, guided 

by hope or by hearsay, 
Sought for their kith and their kin among the 

few-acred formers 
On the Acadian coast, and the prairies of fair 

Opelousas. 

741. Tne Beautiful River* This is said to be the meaning of the native 
Indian name Ohio, a large river which hounds part of the Btate of Ohio, 
and tails Into the Mississippi. The Wabash falls into the Ohio. 

746. Raft, Cut timber fastened together for floating- down a river, 
also a similar structure for saying the live- of persons ship- wrecked. 

. Acadian >-onst. Shores of the Mississippi settled by the Acadiat, 
exiles. 

Fa" . A fertile and beautiful part of the state of 

Louisiana. 

71 



72 EVANGELINE. 

With them Evangeline went, and her guide, 
the Father Felician. 

Onward o'er sunken sands, through a wilder- 
ness sombre with forests, 

Day after day they glided adown the turbu- 
lent river ; 

Night after night, by their blazing fires 
encamped on its borders. 

Now through rushing chutes, among green 
islands, where plumelike 755 

Cotton-trees nodded their shadowy crests, 
they swept with the current, 

Then emerged into broad lagoons, where sil- 
very sand-bars 

Lay in the stream, and along the wimpling 
waves of their margin, 

Shining with snow-white plumes, large flocks 
of pelicans waded. 

Level the landscape grew, and along the 
shores of the river, 7eo 

Shaded by china-trees, in the midst of luxuri- 
ant gardens, 

755. Chutes. River falls or rapids over which timber rafts are 
floated. 

757. Lagoons. Shallow lakes or ponds connected with the sea or a 
river. 

758. Wimpling. Folding one over the other, lapping. 

759. Pelican. A bird larger than the swan, living on the edges of 
rivers and lakes, and feeding on fish. 

761. China-tree. The soap-berry, a small beautiful tree which grows 
in the southern states. 



EVANGELINE. 73 

Stood the houses of planters, with negro- 
cabins and dove-cots. 
They were approaching the region where 

reigns perpetual summer, 
Where through the Golden Coast, and groves 

of orange and citron, 
Sweeps with majestic curve the river away to 

the eastward. 765 

They, too, swerved from their course; and, 

entering the Bayou of Plaquemine, 
Soon were lost in a maze of sluggish and 

devious waters, 
Which, like a net-work of steel, extended in 

every direction. 
Over their heads the towering and tenebrous 

boughs of the cypress 
Met in a dusky arch, and trailing mosses in 

mid-air, 770 

Waved like banners that hang on the walls 

of ancient cathedrals. 
Deathlike the silence seemed, and unbroken, 

save'by the herons 

Golden Coast. Rich banks of the Mississippi. 

Bayou. An outlet or arm of a lake or river. 

Tenebrous. Dark, gloomy. 

feron. A large water-bird, with long legs, which builda its nest 
in high tree 



74 EVANGELINE. 

Home to their roosts in the cedar-trees 

returning at sunset, 
Or by the owl, as he greeted the moon with 

demoniac laughter. 
Lovely the moonlight was as it glanced and 

gleamed on the water, " b 

Gleamed on the columns of cypress and cedar 

sustaining the arches, 
Down through whose broken vaults it fell as 

through chinks in a ruin. 
Dreamlike, and indistinct, and strange were 

all things around them ; 
And o'er their spirits there came a feeling 

of wonder and sadness, — 
Strange forebodings of ill, unseen and that 

cannot be compassed. 
As, at the tramp of a horse's hoof on the turf 

of the prairies, 
Far in advance are closed the leaves of the 

shrinking mimosa, 
So, at the hoof-beats of fate, with sad fore- 
bodings of evil. 
Shrinks and closes the heart, ere the stroke 

of doom has attained it. 

774. Demoniac. Like a devil or evil spirit. 

777. Vaults. Arched or turned roofs, here the coverings formed by 
the tops of the high trees. 

782, Shrinking mimosa. The sensitive plant, whose leaves shrink or 
fold in on being touched or shaken, as if they had the sense of feeling. 



EVANGELINE. 75 

But Evangeline's heart was sustained by a 

vision, that faintly 7S:> 

Floated before her eyes, and beckoned her- 
on through the moonlight. 

It was the thought of her brain that assumed 
the shape of a phantom. 

Through those shadowy aisles had Gabriel 
wandered before her, 

And every stroke of the oar now brought 
him nearer and nearer. 

Then in his place, at the prow of the boat, 
rose one of the oarsmen, 790 

And, as a signal sound, if others like them 
peradventure 

Sailed on those gloomy and midnight streams, 
blew a blast on his bugle. 

Wild through the dark colonnades and cor- 
ridors leafy the blast rang, 

Breaking the seal of silence, and giving 
tongues to the forest. 

ll< 3S above them the banners of moss 
just stirred to the music ; 795 

Multitudinous echoes awoke and died in the 
distance, 

Prow. The fore part of a ship, the place for the look-out. 
ire. By chance or accident, perhaps. 
7 •:. Bugle. A hunting-horn. 



76 EVANGELINE. 

Over the watery floor, and beneath the rever- 
berant branches ; 

But not a voice replied ; no answer came 
from the darkness ; 

And, when the echoes had ceased, like a 
sense of pain was the silence. 

Then Evangeline slept ; but the boatmen 
rowed through the midnight, 

Silent at times, then singing familiar Cana- 
dian boat-songs, 

Such as they sang of old on their own Acad- 
ian rivers, 

While through the night was heard the mys- 
terious sounds of the desert, 

Far off, — indistinct, — as of wave or of wind 
in the forest, 

Mixed with the whoop of the crane and the 
roar of the srim alligator. 

Thus ere another noon they emerged from 
the shades ; and before them 
Lay, in the golden sun, the lakes of the 
Atchafalaya. 

797. Reverberant. Lit. beating back, sending back the sound. 

805. Whoop of the crane. The whooping-crane is a large pure white 
bird, with long legs fitted for wading, and a clear, piercing whoop or 
cry that can be heard at a distance of two miles. 

807. Atchafalaya. A bayou or outlet of the Mississippi river. 



EVANGELINE. 77 

Water-lilies in myriads rocked on the slight 

undulations 
Made by the passing oars, and, resplendent 

in beauty, the lotus 
Lifted her golden crown above the heads of 

the boatmen. 810 

Faint was the air w T ith the odorous breath of 

magnolia blossoms, 
And with the heat of noon ; and namberless 

sylvan islands, 
Fragrant and thickly embowered with blos- 
soming hedges of roses, 
Near to whose shores thev glided alon<r, 

invited to slumber. 
Seon by the fairest of these theii weary oars 

were suspended. S15 

Under the boughs of Wachita willows, that 

grew by the margin, 
Safely their boat was moored ; and scattered 

about on the £reen-sward, 
Tired w T ith their midnight toil, the weary 

travellers slumbered. 
Over them vast and high extended the cope 

of a cedar. 

Lotus. A beautiful flower, resembling a water-Jily. 

Wachita. A river in Louisiana. 
B17. Moored. Tied, fastenc ■!. 

'ope. Lit. a cover for the head, anything sprea****** ;he head, 
roof of a h<< 



78 EVANGELINE. 

Swinging from its great arms, the trumpet 
flower and the grape-vine * 20 

Hung their ladder of ropes aloft like the lad- 
der of Jacob, 

On whose pendulous stairs the angels ascend- 
ing, descending, 

Were the swift humming birds, that flitted 
from blossom to blossom. 

Such was the vison Evangeline saw as she 
slumbered beneath it. 

Filled was her heart with love, and the dawn 
of an opening heaven 

Lighted her soul in sleep with the glory of 
regions celestial. 



Nearer, ever nearer, among the number- 
less islands, 

Darted a light, swift boat, that sped away 
o'er the water, 

Urged on its course by the sinewy arms of 
hunters and trappers. 

Northward its prow was turned, to the land 
of the bison and beaver. 

820. Trumpet-flower, A climbing-plant with showy orange and 
scarlet flowers. 

822. Pendulous. Hanging, swinging, fastened at one end. 
830. Bison, Buffalo. 



EVANGELINE. 79 

At the helm sat a youth, with countenance 

thoughtful and careworn. 
Dark and neglected locks overshadowed his 

brow, and a sadness 
Somewhat beyond his years on his face was 

legibly written. 
Gabriel was it, who, weary with waiting, 

unhappy and restless, 
Sought in the Western wilds oblivion of self 

and of sorrow, a35 

Swiftly they glided along, close under the 

lee of the island, 
But by the opposite bank, and behind a 

screen of palmettos, 
So that they saw not the boat, where it lay 

concealed in the willows ; 
All undisturbed by the dash of their oars, 

and unseen, were the sleepers. 
Angel of God , was their none to awaken the 

slumbering maiden ! 84 ° 

Swiftly they glided away, like the shade of a 

cloud on the prairie. 
After the sound of their oars on the tholes 

had died in the distance, 

836. Lee. A sheltered place, here the side of the island over which 
tbe wind blew. 

837. Palmettos. A kind of palm-tree, the cabbage-palm of the south- 
ern -tates. The stem grows without branches to a height of 150 feet, 
and la frowned by a head of large leaves. 

842. Tholes. The pins used to keep an oar in its place. 



80 EVANGELINE. 

As from a magic trance the sleepers awoke, 

and the maiden 
Said with a sigh to the friendly priest, "O 

Father Felician ! 
Something says in my heart that near me 

Gabriel wanders. S45 

Is it a foolish dream, an idle and vague 

superstition ? 
Or has an angel passed, and revealed the 

truth to my spirit ? " 
Then, with a blush, she added, "Alas for my 

credulous fancy ! 
Unto ears like thine such words as these have 

no meaning." 
But made answer the reverend man, and he 

smiled as he answered, — 85 ° 

" Daughter, thy words are not idle ; nor are 

they to me without meaning. 
Feeling is deep and still ; and the word that 

floats on the surface 
Is as the tossing buoy, that betrays where 

the anchor is hidden. 
Therefore trust to thy heart, and to what the 

world calls illusions. 
Gabriel truly is near thee ; for not far away 

to the southward, m 

853. Buoy. A floating cask or piece of wood fastened over the spot 
where a rock or anchor lies. 



EVANGELINE. 81 

On the banks of the Teche, are the towns of 

St. Maur and St. Martin. 
There the long-wanderino- bride shall be 

given again to her bridegroom, 
There the long-absent pastor regain his flock 

and his sheepfold. 
Beautiful is the land, with its prairies and 

forests of fruit-trees ; 
Under the feet a garden of flow^ers, and the 

bluest of heavens m 

Bending above, and resting its dome on the 

walls of the forest. 
They who dwell there havp, named it the 

Eden of Louisiana/* 



With these words of cheer they arose and 

continued their journey. 
Softly the evening came. The sun from the 

western horizon 
Like a magician extended his golden wand 

o'er the landscape ; 865 

Twinkling vapors arose ; and sky and water 

and forest 
Seemed all on fire at the touch, and melted 

and mingled together. 

456. Teche. \tesJi) A bavou or river in Louisiana. 



82 EVANGELINE. 

Hanging between two skies, a cloud with 
edges of silver, 

Floated the boat, with its dripping oars, on 
the motionless w r ater. 

Filled was Evangeline's heart with inexpres- 
sible sweetness. 870 

Touched by the magic spell, the sacred 
fountains of feeling 

Glowed with the light of love, as the skies 
and the waters around her. 

Then from a neighboring thicket the mock- 
ing bird, wildest of singers, 

Swinging aloft on a willow spray that hung 
o'er the water, 

Shook from his little throat such floods of 
delirious music, 875 

That the whole air and the woods and the 
waves seemed silent to listen. 

Plaintive at first were the tones and sad ; then 
soaring to madness 

Seemed they to follow or guide the revel of 
frenzied Bacchantes. 

Single notes were then heard, in sorrowful, 
low lamentation ; 



878. Frenzied Bacchantes. Those who took part in keeping the feasts 
-ei Bacchus, the god of wine and drunkards, at which there was much 
mad or frenzied riot and dancing. 



EVANGELINE.. 83 

Till, having gathered thorn all, he flans: them 
abroad in derision. 

As when, after a storm, a gust of wind 

through the tree-tops 
Shakes down the rattling rain in a crystal 

shower on the branches. 
With such a prelude as this, and hearts that 

throbbed with emotion, 
Slowly they enter the Teche, where it flows 

through the green Opelousas, 
And, through the amber air, above the crest 

of the woodland, 885 

Saw the column of smoke that arose from a 

neighboring dwelling ; — 
Sounds of a horn they heard, and the distant 

lowing of cattle. 



Ill 

Near to the bank of the river, o'er- 

shadowed by oaks, from whose branches 
Garlands of Spanish moss and of mystic 

miseltoe flaunted, 
Such as the Druids cut down with golden 

hatchets at Yule-tide, 890 

Stood, secluded and still, the house of the 

herdsman. A garden 
Girded it round about with a belt of luxuri- 
ant blossoms, 
Filling the air with fragrance. The house 

itself was of timbers 
Hewn from the cypress-tn j, and carefully 

fitted together. 
Large and low was the roof; and on slender 

columns supported, 895 

Rose-wreathed, vine-encircled, a broad and 

spacious veranda, 
Haunt of the humming-bird and the bee, 

extended around it. 

889. Spanish moss. A plant which appears like a mass of gray fibres 
or threads hanging down from the trees in the southern states. 

889. Mystic mistletoe. A plant which grows on the trunk of the oak 
and other trees. It was held in great reverence by the ancient Celtic 
nations, and used in the mystic or secret religious rites of their priests, 
the Druids , 

890. Yule-tide. Christmas time. A.S. Iule, Christmas, and tid, time. 

84 



EVANGELINE. 85 

At each end of the house, amid the flowers of 
the garden, 

Stationed the dove-cots were, as love's per- 
petual symbol, 

Scenes of endless wooing, and endless con- 
tentions of rivals. 

Silence reigned o'er the place. The line of 
shadow and sunshine 

Ran near the tops of the trees ; but the house 
itself was in shadow, 

And from its chimney-top, ascending and 
slowly expanding 

Into the evening air, a thin blue column of 
smoke rose. 

In the rear of the house, from the garden 
gate, ran a pathway 

Through the great groves of oak to the skirts 
of the limitless prairie. 

Into whose sea of flowers the sun was slowly 
descending ; 

Full in his track of light, like ships with 
shadowy canvas 

Hanging loose from their spars in a motion- 
less calm in the tropics, 

Stood a cluster of trees, with tangled cord- 
age of grape-vines. 9IOr 

Just where the woodlands met the flowery 
surf of the prairie, 



86 EVANGELIXE. 

Mounted upon his horse, with Spanish saddle 
and stirrups, 

Sat a herdsman, arrayed in gaiters and doub- 
let of deerskin. 

Broad and brown was the face that from 
under the Spanish sombrero 

Gazed on the peaceful scene, with the lordly 
look of its master. 9]5 

Round about him were numberless herds of 
kine, that were grazing 

Quietly in the meadows, and breathing the 
J vapory freshness 

That uprose from the river, and spread itself 
over the landscape. 

Slowly lifting the horn that hung at his side, 
and expanding 

Fully his broad, deep chest, he blew a blast 
that resounded 920 

Wildly and sweet and far, through the still 
damp air of the evening. 

Suddenly out of the grass the long white 
horns of the cattle 

Rose like flakes of foam on the adverse cur- 
rents of ocean. 

913. Doublet. A close-fitting garment reaching to a little below the 
waist. From double^ because it was originally made of two plies or 
double cloth for defence against blows. 

.914. Sombrero. A hat with a broad brim for shade. 



EVANGELINE. s < 

Silent a moment they gazed, then bellowing 

rushed o'er the prairie, 
And the whole mass became a cloud, a shade 

in the distance. 
Then, as the herdsman turned to the house, 

through the gate of the garden 
Saw he the forms of the priest and the 

maiden advancing to meet him. 
Suddenly down from his horse he sprang in 

amazement, and forward 
Rushed with extended arms and exclamations 

of wonder : 
When they beheld his face, they recognized 

Basil the blacksmith, 
Hearty his welcome was, as he led his guests 

to the garden. 
There in an arbor of roses with endless ques- 
tion and answer 
Gave they vent to their hearts, and renewed 

their friendly embraces, 
Laughing and weeping by turns, or sitting 

"silent and thoughtful. 
Thoughtful, for Gabriel came not ; and now 

dark doubts and misgivings 
Stole o'er the maiden's heart; and Basil, 

somewhat embarrassed, 
Broke the silence and said, " If you came by 

the Atchafalaya, 



88 EVANGELINE. 

How have you nowhere encountered my 

Gabriel's boat on the bayous ? " 
Over Evangeline's face at the words of Basil 

a shade passed. 
Tears came into her eyes, and she said with 

a tremulous accent, 94 ° 

"Gone? is Gabriel gone?" and, concealing 

her face on his shoulder, 
All her o'erburdened heart gave way, and 

she wept and lamented. 
Then the good Basil said, — and his voice 

grew blithe as he said it,— 
"Be of good cheer, my chilu ; it is only 

to-day that he departed. 
Foolish boy ! he has left me alone with my 

herds and my horses. 945 

Moody and restless grown, and tried and 

troubled, his spirit 
Could no longer endure the calm of this 

quiet existence. 
Thinking ever of thee, uncertain and sorrow- 
ful ever, 
Ever silent, or speaking only of thee and hi* 

troubles, 
He at length had become so tedious to men 

and to maidens, 950 

Tedious even to me, that at length I 

bethought me, and sent him 



EVANGELINE. 89 

Unto the town of Adayes to trade for mules 

with the Spaniards. 
Thence he will follow the Indian trails to the 

( )zark Mountains, 
Hunting for furs in the forests, on rivers 

trapping the beaver. 
Therefore be of good cheer ; we will follow 

the fugitive lover ; 955 

He is not far on his way, and the fates and 

the streams are against him. 
Up and away to-morrow, and through the 

red dew of the morning 
We will follow him fast, and bring him back 

to his prison." 

Then glad voices were heard, and up from 

the banks of the river, 
Borne aloft on his comrades' arms, came 

Michael the fiddler. 960 

Long under Basil's roof had he lived like a 

god on Olympus, 
Having no other care than dispensing music 

to mortal-. 

. Adayes. In T« ! 

-. Indian paths through the forest, tracks followed by the 
hunter. 

a a range of mountains west of the Missis- 

sippi in th»- states of Arkansas and Missouri. 

Fate*. The goddesses w bo were supposed to hold the lot or fate 
of men in their hands. 

961. Olympus. A mountain in ancient Greece, the home of the gods 



90 EVANGELINE. 

Far renowned was he for his silver locks and 
his fiddle. 

"Long live Michael," they cried, ff our brave 
Acadian minstrel ! " 

As they bore him aloft in triumphal proces- 
sion ; and straightway 

Father Felician advanced with Evangeline, 
greeting the old man 

Kindly and oft, and recalling the past, while 
Basil, enraptured, 

Hailed with hilarious joy his old companions 
and gossips, 

Laughing loud and long, and embracing 
mothers and daughters. 

Much they marvelled to see the wealth of the 
ci-devant blacksmith, 

All his domains and his herds, and his patri- 
archal demeanor ; 

Much they marvelled to hear his tales of the 
soil and the climate, 

And of the prairies, whose numberless herds 
were his who would take them ; 

Each one thought in his heart, that he, too 
w T ould go and do likewise. 

970. Ci-devant. Former. Fr. c«', for ici, here, and devant, before. 

971. Domains. The lands ruled over by a king or lord, the land 
around one's house and which one possesses. 

Patriarchal. Like a patriarch cr ruler and father of a family, 
aged and reverend looking. 

Demeanor. Behavior, carriage, bearing. 



EVANGELINE. !>1 

Thus they ascended the steps, and crossing 
the breezy veranda, ° 75 

Entered the hall of the house, where already 
the supper of Basil 

Waited his late return ; and they rested and 
feasted together. 

Over the joyous feast the sudden darkness 

descended. 
All was silent without, and, illuming the 

landscape with silver. 
Fair rose the dewy moon and the myriad 

stars ; but within doors, 980 

Brighter than these, shone the faces of friends 

in the glimmering lamplight. 
Then from his station aloft, at the head of 

the table, the herdsman 
Poured forth his heart and his wine together 

in endless profusion. 
Lighting his pipe, that was filled with sweet 

Natchitoches tobacco, 
Thus he spake to his guests, who listened, 

and smiled as they listened : — 985 

''Welcome once more, my friends, who long 

have been friendless and homeless, 
Welcome once more to a home, that is better 

perchance than the old one ! 

984. Xat i ! te name of a district In Louisiana. 



92 EVANGELINE. 

Here no hungry winter congeals our blood 

like the rivers ; 
Here no stony ground provokes the wrath of 

the farmer. 
Smoothly the ploughshare runs through the 

soil, as a keel through the water. 
All the year round the orange-groves are 

in blossom ; and grass grows 
More in a single night than a whole Canadian 

summer. 
Here, too, numberless herds run wild and 

unclaimed in the prairies : 
Here, too, lands may be had for the asking, 

and forests of timber 
With a few blows of the axe are hewn and 

framed into houses. r ' 95 

After your houses are built and your fields 

are yellow with harvests. 
No King George of England shall drive } T ou 

away from your homesteads, 
Burning your dwellings and barns, and steal- 
ing your farms and your cattle." 
Speaking these words, he blew a wrathful 

cloud from his nostrils, 
While his huge brown hand came thundering 

down on the table, 100 ° 

990. Keel. The principal timber in a ship, extending along the bot- 
tom and supporting the whole frame; a ship itself. 



EVANGELINE. 93 

S i that the guests all started ; and Father 

Felician, astounded, 
Suddenly paused, with a pinch of snuff halt- 
way to his nostrils. 
But the brave Basil resumed, and his words 

were milder and gayer : — 
" Only beware of the fever, my friends, 

beware of the fever ! 
For it is not like that of our cold Acadian 

climate, 1005 

Cured by wearing a spider hung round one's 

neck in a nutshell ! " 
Then there were voices heard at the door, 

and footsteps approaching 
Sounded upon the stairs and the floor of the 

breezy veranda. 
It w r as the neighboring Creoles and small 

Acadian planters. 
Who had been summoned all to the house of 

Basil the herdsman. 101 ° 

Merry the meeting was of ancient comrades 

and neighbors : 
Friend clasped friend in his arms; and they 

who before were as strangers, 

1006. The poet here refers to an old charm for the cure 

of disease. Ellas Ashmole, in hi- diary, April 11, 1861, says, " I took 
early in the morning a good dose «>f elixir, ami hung three spiders about 
my Deck, and they <lrov.- my ague away. Thank- be to GoOY 1 

Creole*, i Spanish America natives of that country de- 
scended from European ancestors. 



94 EVANGELINE. 

Meeting in exile, became straightway as 

friends to each other, 
Drawn by the gentle bond of a common 

country together. 
But in the neighboring hall a strain of music, 

proceeding 1015 

From the accordant strings of Michael's 

melodious fiddle, 
Broke up all further speech. Away, like 

children delighted, 
All things forgotten beside, they gave them- 
selves to the maddening 
Whirl of the dizzy dance, as it swept and 

swayed to the music, 
Dreamlike, with beaming eyes and the rush 

of fluttering garments. 1020 

Meanwhile, apart at the head of the hall, 

the priest and the herdsman 
Sat, conversing together of past and present 

and future ; 
While Evangeline stood like one entranced, 

for within her 
Olden memories rose, and loud in the midst 

of the music 
Heard she the sound of the sea, and an 

irrepressible sadness i025k 






EVANGELINE. 95 

Came o'er her heart, and unseen she stole 

forth into the garden. 
Beautiful was the night. Behind the black 

wall of the forest, 
Tipping its summit with silver, arose the 

moon. On the river 
Fell here and there through the branches a 

tremulous o:leam of the moonlight, 
Like the sweet thoughts of love on a dark- 
ened and devious spirit. 103 ° 
Near her and round about her, the manifold 

flowers of the garden 
Poured out their souls in odors, that were 

their prayers and confessions 
Unto the night, as it went its way, like a 

silent Carthusian. 

Fuller of fragrance than they, and as heavy 

with shadows and night-dews, 
Hung the heart of the maiden. The calm 

and the magical moonlight 1035 

Seemed to inundate her soul with indefinable 

longings, 
As, through the garden £ate, and beneath 

the shade of the oak-trees, 
Passed >he along the path to the edge of the 

measureless prairie. 

Carthusian. One of the order of monks named Carthusians, 
from (hart reuse, a village in France where they were established. 
They are not allowed to <ro out of their cells except to church, nor 
spf-ak t<> any person without leave. 



96 EVANGELINE. 

Silent it lay, with a silvery haze upon it, and 

fire-flies 
Gleaming and floating away in mingled and 

infinite numbers. 104 ° 

Over her head the stars, the thoughts of God 

in the heavens, 
Shone on the eyes of man, who had ceased to 

marvel and worship, 
Save when a blazing comet was seen on the 

walls of that temple, 
As if a hand had appeared and written upon 

them "Upharsin." 
And the soul of the maiden, between the 

stars and the fire-flies, 104& 

Wandered alone, and she cried, ff O Gabriel I 

O my beloved ! 
Art thou so near unto me, and yet I cannot 

behold thee? 
Art thou so near unto me, and yet thy voice 

does not reach me ? 
Ah ! how often thy feet have trod this path 

to the prairie ; 
Ah ! how often thine eyes have looked on 

the woodlands around me ! mo 

Ah! how often beneath this oak, returning 

from labor, 

1043. That temple. The sky. 

1044. Upharsin. See Daniel, v. 25. 



EVANGELINE. 97 

Thou hast lain down to rest, and to dream of 

me in thy slumbers ! 
When shall these eyes behold, these arms be 

folded about thee ! " 
Loud and sudden and near the note of a 

whippoorwill sounded 
Like a flute in the woods : and anon, through 

the neighboring thickets, 1055 

Farther and farther away it floated and 

dropped into silence. 
f? Patience ! " whispered the oaks from oracu- 
lar caverns of darkness : 
And, from the moonlit meadow, a sigh 

responded, " To-morrow ! " 
Bright rose the sun' next day ; and all the 

flowers of the garden 
Bathed his shining feet with their tears, and 

anointed his tresses 106 ° 

With the delicious balm that they bore in 

their vases of crystal. 
"Farewell!" said the priest, as he stood at 

the shadowy threshold ; 
w See that you bring us the Prodigal Son 

from his fasting and famine, 
And, too, the Foolish Virgin who slept when 

the bridegroom was coming." 

1057. Oracular. Belonging to or speaking like one of the ancient 
oracles, with authority as from the gods, dimly. Oracles were sup- 
posed answers given by the gods at certain places to men's Lnqnities; 

one of these places was a cave in the island of Crete. L. oro, to speak. 



98 EVANGELINE. 

"Farewell-!" answered the maiden, and, 

smiling, with Basil descended 1065 

Down to the river's brink, where the boat- 
men already were waiting. 
Thus beginning their journey with morning, 

and sunshine, and gladness, 
Swiftly they followed the flight of him who 

w 7 as speeding before them, 
JBlown by the blast of fate like a dead leaf 

over the desert. 
Not that day, nor the next, nor yet the day 

that succeeded, 107 ° 

Found they trace of his course, in lake or 

forest or river, 
Nor, after many days, had they found him ; 

but vague and uncertain 
Rumors alone w r ere their guides through a 

w T ild and desolate country ; 
Till, at the little inn of the Spanish town of 

Adayes, 
Weary and worn, they alighted, and learned 

from the garrulous landlord, 1075 

That on the day before, w r ith horses and 

guides and companions, 
Gabriel left the village, and took the road of 

the prairies. 

1075. Garrulous. Inclined to talk; talkative. 



IV; 

Far in the West there lies a desert land, 

where the mountains 
Lift, through perpetual snows, their lofty 

and luminous summits. 
Down from their jagged, deep ravines, where 

the gorge, like a gateway, 108 ° 

Opens a passage rude to the wheels of the 

emigrant's wagon, 
Westward the Oregon flows and the TTalle- 

way and Owyhee. 
Eastward with devious course, among the 

Wind-river Mountains^ 
Through the Sweet-water Valley precipitate 

leaps the Nebraska ; 
And to the south, from Fontaine-qui-bout 

and the Spanish sierras, 1085 

1078. Far in the West, etc. The poet here describes the vast regions 
of the United States around and beyond the Rocky Mountains. 

1079. Perpetual. Continuing without end, here never absent. Fr. 
ueh from L perpettUtts. 

1090. Ravine. A long, deep hollow formed by a mountain stream, a 
deep glen with steep sides. Fr. ravin, from ravir, to tear away. 

Gorge. A narrow passage or entrance, especially between 
mountain-. 

1063. Oregon. ]S"ow named the Columbia River. 

1084. Nebraska. Nebraska or Platte River, flows into the Missouri. 

Precipitate. With headlong haste, very rapidly. 
b>>=i. r<>n<aine-qui-bout. Fr. boiling spring; the name of a creek 
running into the Arkansas River. 

Sierras. Masses of mountains with jagged tops like the teetb 
of a saw. Span, tim i n. a -aw. 

99 

LOFC. 



100 EVANGELINE. 

Fretted with sand and rocks, and swept by 

the wind of the desert, 
Numberless torrents, with ceaseless sound, 

descend to the ocean, 
Like the great chords of a harp, in loud and 

solemn vibrations. 
Spreading between these streams are the 

wondrous, beautiful prairies, 
Billowy bays of grass ever rolling in shadow 

and sunshine, 100 ° 

Bright with luxuriant clusters of roses and 

purple amorphas. 
Over them wandered the buffalo herds, and 

the elk and the roebuck ; 
Over them wandered the wolves, and herds 

of riderless horses ; 
Fires that blast and blight, and winds that 

are weary with travel ; 
Over them wander the scattered tribes of 

Ishmael's children, 1095 

Staining the desert with blood ; and above 

their terrible war-trails 



1091. Amorpha. A plant with a dark purple flower. It is so named 
from the irregular form of the flower, sometimes called false indigo or 
lead-plant. 

1092. Elk. The largest living species of the deer family. 

Roebuck. A species of deer much smaller than the elk 

1095. Ishmael's children. The Indians, who wandered up and down 
like Ishmael without a lixed home and always at war. 



EVANGELINE. 101 

Circles and sails aloft, on pinions majestic, 

the vulture. 
Like the implacable soul of a chieftain 

slaughtered in battle, 
By invisible stairs acending and scaling the 

heavens. 
Here and there rise smokes from the camps 

of these savage marauder- ; im 

Here and there rise groves from the margins 

of swift-running rivers : 
And the grim, taciturn bear, the anchorite 

monk of the desert. 
Climbs down their dark ravines to dig for 

roots by the brook-side ; 
And over all is the sky, the clear and crystal- 
line heaven, 
Like the protecting hand of God inverted 

above them. 1105 

Into this wonderful land, at the base of the 

Ozark Mountains, 
Gabriel far had entered, with hunters and 

trappers behind him. 
Day after day, with their Indian guides, the 

maiden and Basil 

1102. Taciturn. Silent by habit or nature. 

write. One who retires into a solitary . _ re him- 

self up to meditation and religions duties, a hermit, (ir. anac 
from ana. ha'-k. and ehoreo^ to retire. 

11< '7. Trappers. See note 705. 



102 EVANGELINE. 

Followed his flying steps, and thought each 

day to o'ertake him. 
Sometimes they saw, or thought they saw, 

the smoke of his camp-fire ino 

Rise in the morning air from the distant 

plain ; but at nightfall, 
When they had reached the place, they found 

. only embers and ashes. 
And, though their hearts w r ere sad at times 

and their bodies were weary, 
Hope still guided them on, as the magic Fata 

Morgana 
Showed them her lakes of light, that retreated 

and vanished before them. m5 

Once, as they sat by their evening fire, 

there silently entered 
Into the little camp an Indian woman, whose 

features 
Wore deep traces of sorrow, and patience as 

great as her sorrow. 
She was a Shawnee woman returning home 

to her people, 

1114. Fata Morgana. A name given to a striking deception of the 
eyesight, which has been principally remarked in the Strait of Messina, 
between the coasts of Sicily and Calabria. The images of men, horses, 
towers, palaces, columns, trees, etc., are occasionally seen from the 
coast, sometimes in the water, and sometimes in the air or at the sur- 
face of the water. It is a kind of mirage. Italian, because supposed to 
be the work of a fata or fairy called Morgana. 

1119. Shawnee. An Indian tribe now situated west of the Missis- 
sippi. 



EVANGELINE. 103 

From the far-off hunting-grounds of the cruel 

Camanches, 112 ° 

Where her Canadian husband, a Coureur-des- 

Bois, had been murdered. 
Touched were their hearts at her story, and 

warmest and friendliest welcome 
Gave they, with words of cheer, and she sat 

and feasted among them 
On the buffalo meat and the venison cooked 

on the embers. 
But when their meal was done, and Basil and 

all his companions, 1125> 

Worn with the long day's march and the 

chase of the deer and the bison, 
Stretched themselves on the ground, and 

slept where the quivering fire-light 
Flashed on their swarthy cheeks, and their 

forms wrapped up in their blankets. 
Then at the door of Evangeline's tent she 

sat and repeated 
Slowly, with soft, low voice, and the charm 

of her Indian accent, 1130 

All the tale of her love, with its pleasures, 

and pains, and reverses. 
Much Evangeline wept at the tale, and to 

know that another 

1120. Camanche*. An Indian tribe of Mexico and Texas, extremely 
warlike and fond of plunder. 



104 EVANGELINE. 

Hapless heart like her own had loved and had 

been disappointed. 
Moved to the depths of her soul by pity and 

woman's compassion, 
Yet in her sorrow pleased that one who had 

suffered was near her. 1135 

She in turn related her love and all its 

disasters 
Mute with wonder the Shawnee sat, and 

when she had ended 
Still was mute ; but at length, as if a mys- 
terious horror 
Passed through her brain, she spake, and 

repeated the tale of the Mowis, 
Mo wis, the bridegroom of snow, who won 

and wedded a maiden, 114 ° 

But, when the morning came, arose and 

passed from the wigwam, 
Fading and melting away and dissolving into 

the sunshine, 
Till she beheld him no more, though she 

followed far into the forest. 
Then, in those sweet, low tones, that seemed 

like a weird incantation, 

1139. Moivis, etc. TheJndian woman here relates traditions current 
among her people. 

1144. Weird. Unearthly, not human. 

Incantation. A magical song, spell, or charm. 






EVANGELINE. 105 

Told she the tale of the fair Lillinau, who 
was wooed by a phantom, ll4:> 

That, through the pines o'er her father'9 
lodge, in the hush of the twilight, 

Breathed like the evening wind, and whis- 
pered love to the maiden, 

Till she followed his green and waving plume 
through the forest. 

And never more returned, nor was seen 
again by her people. 

Silent with wonder and strange surprise, 
Evangeline listened 1150 

To the soft How of her magical words, till the 
region around her 

Seemed like enchanted ground, and her 
swarthy guest the enchantress. 

Slowly over the tops of the Ozark Mountains 
the moon rose, 

Lighting the little tent, and with a myste- 
rious splendor 

Touching the sombre leaves, and embracing 
and tillino- the woodland. 1155 

With a delicious sound the brook rushed by, 

and the branches 
Swayed and sighed overhead in scarcely 

audible whispers. 

Filled with the thoughts of love was Evange- 
line'- heart, but a secret, 



106 EVANGELINE. 

Subtile sense crept in of pain and indefinite 

terror, 
As the cold poisonous snake creeps into the 

nest of the swallow. 116a 

It was no earthly fear. A breath from the 

region of spirits 
Seemed to float in the air of night ; and she 

felt tor a moment 
That, like the Indian maid, she, too, was 

pursuing a phantom. 
With this thought she slept, and the fear and 

the phantom had vanished. 

Early upon the morrow the march was 
resumed : and the Shawnee 

Said, as they journeyed along, "On the west- 
ern slope of these mountains 

Dwells in his little village the Black Robe 
chief of the Mission. 

Much he teaches the people, and tells them 
of Mary and Jesus ; 

Loud laugh their hearts with joy, and weep 
with pain, as they hear him." 

Then with a sudden and secret emotion, 
Evangeline answered, 



1167. Black Robe chief. The priest, in allusion to the color of his 
dres^. 






EVANGELINE. 107 

w Let us go to the Mission, for there good 
tidings await us ' " 

Thither they turned their steeds ; and behind 
a spur of the mountains, 

Just as the sun went down, they heard a 
murmur of voices, 

And in a meadow green and broad, by the 
bank of a river, 

Saw the tents of the Christians, the tents of 
the Jesuit Mission. 1175 

Under a towering oak, that stood in the 
midst of the village. 

Knelt the Black Robe chief with his children. 
A crucifix fastened 

High on the trunk of the tree, and over- 
shadowed by grape-vines, 

Looked with its agonized face on the multi- 
tude kneeling beneath it. 

This was their rural chapel. Aloft through 
the intricate arches 1180 

Of its aerial roof, arose the chant of their 
vesper-. 

Mingling its notes with the soft susurrus and 
sighs of the branches. 

1175. Jesuit. One of the Society <>f Jesus, a religious order founded 
by Ignatius Loyola, a Spaniard, in the sixteenth century. They soon 
spread over most parte <>f the world a> missionaries. 
1181, Aerial. High in air, airy. 

The evening service In the Catholic church. 
Susurrus. A continued hi->in<-' sound, a whisper. 



108 EVANGELINE. 

Silent, with heads uncovered, the travellers, 
nearer approaching, 

Knelt on the swarded floor, and joined in the 
evening devotions. 

But when the service was done, and the 
benediction had fallen 1185 

Forth from the hands of the priest, like seed 
from the hands of the sower. 

Slowly the reverend man advanced to the 
strangers, and bade them 

Welcome : and when they replied, he smiled 
with benignant expression, 

Hearing the home-like sounds of his mother- 
tongue in the forest, 

And, with words of kindness, conducted 
them into his wigwam. 119 ° 

There upon mats and skins they reposed, 
and on cakes of the maize-ear 

Feasted, and slaked their thirst from the 
water-gourd of the teacher. 

Soon was their story told : and the priest 
with solemnity answered : — 

ff Not six suns have risen and set since Gab- 
riel, seated 

1185. Benediction. The blessing pronounced by the priest on the 
congregation before dismission. 

1192. Water-gourd. A vessel for holding water, no named from 
being shaped like the outer shell of the fruit called a gourd. 

1194. Six suns. Six days, or the number of times that the sun has 
risen. 






EVANGELINE. 109 

On this mat by my side, where now the 

maiden reposes, ll9B 

Told me this same sad tale; then arose and 

continued his journey ! " 
Soft was the voice of the priest, and he spake 

with an accent of kindnes- ; 
But on Evangeline's heart fell his words as in 

winter the snow-flakes 
Fall into some lone nest from which the birds 

have departed. 
"Far to the north he has gone,*' continued 

the priest ; " but in autumn, 1200 

When the chase is done, will return again to 

the Mission." 
Then Evangeline said, and her voice was 

meek and submissive, 
"Let me remain with thee, for my soul is sad 

and afflicted.*' 
So seemed it wise and well unto all; and 

betimes on the morrow, 
Mounting his Mexican steed, with his Indian 

guides and companions, 1205 

Homeward Basil returned, and Evangeline 

stayed at the Mission. 

Slowly, -lowly, slowly the days succeeded 
each other, — 

1304. Beti «< i. Early, soon, before it Is late. 



110 EVANGELINE. 

Days and weeks and months ; and the fields 

of maize that were springing 
Green from the ground when a stranger she 

came, now waving above her, 
Lifted their slender shafts, with leaves inter- 
lacing, and forming 1210 
Cloisters for mendicant crows and granaries 

pillaged by squirrels. 
Then in the golden weather the maize was 

husked, and the maidens 
Blushed at each blood-red ear, for that 

betokened a lover, 
But at the crooked laughed, and called it a 

thief in the cornfield. 
Even the blood-red ear to Evangeline brought 

not her lover. 121& 

" Patience ! " the priest would say : f ' have 

faith, and thy prayer will be answered ! " 
Look at this vigorous plant that lifts its head 

from the meadow, 
See how its leaves are turned to the north, 

as true as the magnet ; 
This is the compass-flower, that the finger of 

God has planted 

1211. Clois'er. An arcade or long passage arched over, in which the 
monks walked for exercise. 

1211. Mmdicant. Begging, living upon charity. It is the name of an 
order of begging friars or monks. 

1219. Compass- Floicer. A handsome American plant, allied to the 
sun-flower. Certain of its leaves when growing, turn to the north and 
south. 



EVANGELINE. Ill 

Here in the houseless wild, to direct the 
traveller's journey 1220 

Over the sea-like, pathless, limitless waste 
of the desert. 

Such in the soul of man is faith. The blos- 
soms of passion, 

Gay and luxuriant flowers, are brighter and 
fuller of fragrance. 

But they beguile us, and lead us astray, and 
their odor is deadly. 

Only this humble plant can guide us here, 
and hereafter 1225 

Crown us with asphodel flowers, that are wet 
with the dews of nepenthe." 

So came the autumn, and passed, and the 

winter, — yet Gabriel came not ; 
Blossomed the opening spring, and the notes 

of the robin and blue-bird 
Sounded sweet upon wold and in wood, yet 

Gabriel came not. 
But on the breath of the summer winds a 

rumor was wafted 1230 

1226. A'phodel. A plant of the lily kind, with flowers of different 
colors and great beauty. 

Nepenthe. A magic drink anciently believed to make persons 
forget their borrow; the word is now used of a medicine which relieves 

;>;iin. 

Wold. A plain, an open country. 



112 EVANGELINE. 

Sweeter than song of bird, or hue or odor 

of blossom. 
Far to the north and east, it said, in the 

' Michigan forests, 
Gabriel had his lodge by the banks of the 

Saginaw River, 
And, with returning guides, that sought the 

lakes of St. Lawrence, 
Saying a sad farewell, Evangeline went from 

the Mission. im 

When over weary ways, by long and perilous 

marches, 
She had attained at length the depths of the 

Michigan forests, 
Found she the hunter's lodge deserted and 

fallen to ruin ! 

Thus did the long sad years glide on, and 
in seasons and places 

Divers and distant far was seen the wander- 
ing maiden ; — 1240 

Now in the Tents of Grace of the meek 
Moravian Missions, 

1233. Sagi?iau\ A river of Michigan, flowing into Saginaw Bay. a 
branch of Lake Huron. 

1234. St. Lawrence. The river which issues from Lake Ontario, and 
drains the chain of great lakes in North America. It has a total length 
of over 2000 miles. 

1241. Moravians. A name given to a religious body which took its 
rise in Moravia in Austria at the time of the Reformation. The 
Moravians are distinguished for their humble piety, and have estab- 
lished missions in almost every part of the world. 



EVANGELINE. 1 13 

Now in the noisy camps and the battle-fields 

of the army. 
Now in secluded hamlets, in towns and 

populous cities. 
Like a phantom she came, and passed away 

un remembered. 
Fair was she and young, when in hope began 

the long journey ; 1245 

Faded was she and old, when in disappoint- 
ment it ended. 
Each succeeding year stole something away 

from her beauty, 
Leaving behind it, broader and deeper, the 

gloom and the shadow. 
Then there appeared and spread faint streaks 

of gray o'er her forehead, 
Dawn of another life, that broke o'er her 

earthly horizon, m<) 

As in the eastern sky the first faint streaks 

of the morning. 



V. 

In that delightful land which is washed by 

the Delaware's waters, 
Guarding in sylvan shades the name of Penn 

the apostle, 
Stands on the banks of its beautiful stream 

the city he founded. 
There all the air is balm, and the peach is the 

emblem of beauty, 1255 

And the streets still re-echo the names of the 

trees of the forest, 
-l s if they fain would appease the Dryads 

whose haunts they molested. 
There from the troubled sea had Evangeline 

landed, an exile, 
Finding among the children of Penn a home 

and a country. 
There old Rene Leblanc had died ; and when 

he departed, 1260 

1252. Delaware. The river forming the eastern boundary of the 
state of Pennsylvania, and falling into Delaware Bay. 

1253. Penn the a pottle. William Penn, an Englishman, and member 
of the Society of Friends. He suffered imprisonment in England for 
preaching- the gospel, and emigrated to America with some of his 
brethren to enjoy liberty of conscience. lie founded the state of Penn- 
sylvania in 1682, which was so named in honor of ...m. In his dealings 
with the native Indians he was noted for his love of justice. 

1254. City he founded. Philadelphia (meaning " brotherly love "). 

1256. Streets still re-echo. Many of the streets of Philadelphia bear 
th^ names of trees that formerly grew where the city now stands, or 
still grow in the neighborhood. 

1257. Dryads. The nymphs or goddesses who presided over trees or 
woods. 

114 



EVANGELINE. 115 

Saw at his side only one of all his hundred 
descendants. 

Something at least there was in the friendly 

streets of the city, 
Something that spake to her heart, and made 

her no longer a stranger : 
And her ears were pleased with the Thee and 

Thou of the Quakers, 
For it recalled the past, the old Acadian 

country, 1265 

Where all men were equal, and all were 

brothers and sisters. 
So. when the fruitless search, the disap- 
pointed endeavor, 
Ended, to recommence no more upon earth, 

uncomplaining, 
Thither as leaves to the light, were turned 

her thoughts and her foot-steps. 
As from a mountain's top the rainy mist- of 

the morning 1270 

Roll away, and afar we behold the landscape 

below us, 
Sun-illumined, with shining rivers and cities 

and hamlet-. 
So fell the mists from her mind, and she saw 

the world far below her. 

The Society <>f Friends or Quak< 
and thou instead of you vrben addressing anyone. 



116 EVANGELINE. 

Dark no longer, but all illumined with love -, 

and the pathway 
Which she had climbed so far, lying smooth 

and fair in the distance. v?lb 

Gabriel was not forgotten. Within her 

heart was his image, 
Clothed in the beauty of love and youth, as 

last she beheld him, » 
Only more beautiful made by his deathlike 

silence and absence, 
Into her thoughts of him time entered not, 

for it was not. 
Over him years had no power ; he was not 

changed, but transfigured ; 1280 

He had become to her heart as one who is 

dead, and not absent ; 
Patience and abnegation of self, and devotion 

to others, 
This was the lesson a life of trial and sorrow 

had taught her. 
So was her love diffused, but, like to some 

odorous spices, 
Suffered no waste nor loss, though filling the 

air with aroma. ' 1285 

1280. Transfigured. Changed in form or appearance. 

1282. Abnegation. Denial. 

1285. Aroma. The sweet smell of plants, or the duality which gives 
them a sweet smell. 



EVANGELINE. 1 1 7 

Other hope had she none, nor wish in life, 
but to follow 

Meekly, with reverent steps, the sacred feel 
of her Saviour. 

Thus many years she lived as a Sister of 
Mercy; frequenting 

Lonely and wretched roofs in the crowded 
lanes of the city, 

Where distress and want concealed them- 
selves from the sunlight, 12W 

Where disease and sorrow in garrets lan- 
guished neglected. 

Night after night when the world was asleep, 
as the watchman repeated 

Loud, through the gusty streets, that all was 
well in the city, 

High at some lonely window he saw the 
light of her taper. 

Day after day, in the gray of the dawn as 
slow through the suburbs 

Plodded the German farmer, with flowers 
and fruits for the market, 



Mercy. An order of vomen belonprinyto the Catholic 
Church, bound by religious vow- t<> spend their lives in visiting the 
sick ami criminals, and <\u-h like act- of charity and mercy, 

hi early day- before the advent «>f policemen, watchmen 
patrolled the Btreets of cities at night time, calling out the hours, rini-h- 
ing u ith tin cry " All Is well." 

man town. 



118 EVANGELINE. 

Met he that meek, pale face, returning home 
from its watchings. 

Then it came to pass that a pestilence fell 

on the city, 
Presaged by wondrous signs, and mostly by 

flocks of wild pigeons, 
Darkening the sun in their flight, with 

naught in their craws but an acorn. 1300 
And, as the tides of the sea arise in the 

month of September, 
flooding some silver stream, till it spreads to 

a lake in the meadow, 
So death flooded life, and, o'erflowing its 

natural margin, 
Spread to a brackish lake, the silver streams 

of existence. 
Wealth had no power to bribe, nor beauty to 

charm the opressor ; 1305 

But all perished alike beneath the scourge of 

his anger ; — 
Only, alas ! the poor, who had neither friends 

nor attendants, 
Crept away to die in the almshouse, home of 

the homeless. 

1299. Presage. To foreshow, to show by a present sign what is about 
to happen. 

1304. Brackish. Salt in some degree, a word applied to fresh water 
mixed with salt water so that it is spoiled for use. 



EVANGELINE, 119 

Then in the suburbs it stood, in the midst of 
meadows and woodlands ; — 

Now the city surrounds it : but still with its 

gateway and wicket 131 ° 

Meek, in the midst of splendor, its humble 

wall seemed to echo 
Softly the words of the Lord : — "The poor 

ye always have with you." 
Thither, by night and by day, came the 

Sister of Mercy. The dying 
Looked up into her face, and thought, indeed, 

to behold there 
Gleams of celestial light encircle her forehead 

with splendor, 1315 

Such as the artist paints o'er the brows of 

saints and apostles, 
Or such as hangs by night o'er a city seen at 

a distance. 
Unto their eyes it seemed the lamps of the 

city celestial, 
Into whose shining gates erelong their spirits 

would enter. 

Thus on a Sabbath morn, through the 
streets, deserted and silent, 
Wending her quiet way, she entered the 

door of the almshouse. 

Wiel . \ small door in a large one 



120 EVANGELINE. 

Sweet on the summer air was the odor of 

flowers in the garden ; 
And she paused on her way to gather the 

fairest among them, 
That the dying once more might rejoice in 

their fragrance and beauty. 
Then, as she mounted the stairs to the corri- 
dors, cooled by the east wind, 1325 
Distant and soft on her ear fell the chimes 

from the belfry of Christ Church, 
While, intermingled with these, across the 

meadows were wafted, 
Sounds of psalms, that were sung by the 

Swedes in their church at Wicaco. 
Soft as descending wings fell the calm of 

the hour on her spirit ; 
Something within her said, "At length thy 

trials are ended ; " 1330 

And, with light in her looks, she entered the 

chambers of sickness. 
Noiselessly moved about the assiduous, care- 
ful attendants, 
Moistening the feverish lip, and the aching 

brow, and in silence 
Closing the sightless eyes of the dead, and 

concealing their faces, 

1332. Assiduous. Attentive, regular in attendance. 



EVANGELINE. 121 

Where on their pallets they lay, like drifts 

of snow by the roadside. 1335 

Many a languid head, upraised as Evangeline 

entered. 
Turned on its pillow of pain to gaze while 

she passed, for her presence 
Fell on their hearts like a ray of the sun on 

the walls of a prison. 
And as she looked around, she saw how 

Death, the consoler, 
Laying his hand upon many a heart had 

healed it forever. mo 

Many familiar forms had disappeared in the 

night time ; 
Vacant their places were, or filled already by 

strangers. 

Suddenly, as if arrested by fear or a feel- 
ing of wonder, 

Still she stood, with her colorless lips apart, 
while a shudder 

Kan through her frame, and, forgotten, the 
flowerets dropped from her lingers, m5 

And from her eyes and cheeks the light and 
bloom of the morning. 

1335. Pallet. A small bed originally of straw. 
1S45. Flowerets. Small flower-. 



122 EVANGELINE. 

Then there escaped from her lips a cry of 

such terrible anguish, 
That the dying heard it, and started up from 

their pillows. 
On the pallet before her was stretched the 

form of an old man. 
Long, and thin, and gray were the locks that 

shaded his temples ; 135 ° 

But, as he lay in the morning light, his face 

for a moment 
Seemed to assume once more the forms of its 

earlier manhood ; 
As are wont to be changed the faces of those 

who are dying. 
Hot and red on his lips still burned the flush 

of the fever, 
As if life, like the Hebrew, with blood had 

besprinkled its portals, 1355 

That the Angel of Death might see the sign, 

and pass over. 
Motionless, senseless, dying, he lay, and his 

spirit exhausted 
Seemed to be sinking down through infinite 

depths in the darkness, 
Darkness of slumber and death, forever sink- 
ing and sinking. 






EVANGELINE. 123 

Then through those realms of shade, in mul- 
tiplied reverberations, 1360 
Heard he that cry of pain, and through the 

hush that succeeded 
Whispered a gentle voice, in accents tender 

and saint-like, 
" Gabriel ! O my beloved ! " and died away 

into silence. 
Then he beheld, in a dream, once more the 

home of his childhood ; 
Green Acadian meadows, with sylvan rivers 

among them, 1365 

Village, and mountain, and woodlands; and, 

walking under their shadow, 
As in the days of her youth, Evangeline rose 

in his vision. 
Tears came into his eyes ; and as slowly he 

lifted his eye-lids, 
Vanished the vision away, but Evangeline 

knelt by his bedside. 
Vainly he strove to whisper her name, for 

the accents unuttered 137 ° 

Died on his lips, and their motion revealed 

what his tongue would have spoken. 
Vainly he strove to rise ; and Evangeline 

kneeling beside him, 

1360. \tion. Act <>f echoing or sounding backward and 

forward. 



124 EVANGELINE. 

Kissed his dying lips, and laid his head on 

her bosom. 
Sweet was tne light of his eyes ; but it 

suddenly sank into darkness, 
As when a la^p is blown out by a gust of 

wind at a casement. 1375 

All was ended now, the hope and the fear, 

and the sorrow, 
All the aching of heart, the restless unsat- 
isfied longing, 
All the dull, deep pain, and constant anguish 

of patience ! 
And as she pressed once more the lifeh 

head to her bosom, 
Meekly she bowed her own, and murmured, 

" Father, I thank thee ! " 138 ° 



Still stands the forest primeval ; but far 

away from its shadow, 
Side by side, in their nameless graves, flie 

lovers are sleeping. 
Under the humble walls of the little Catholic 

church-yard, 
In the heart of the city, they lie, unknown 

and unnoticed. 
Daily the tides of life go ebbing and flowing 

beside, them, 1385> 



EVANGELINE. 125 

Thousands of throbbing hearts, where theirs 

are at rest and forever, 
Thousands of aching brains, where theirs no 

longer are busy ; 
Thousands of toiling hands, where theirs have 

eeased from their labors, 
Thousands of weary feet, where theirs have 

completed their journey ! 

Still stands the forest primeval ; but under 

the shade of its branches 1390 

Dwells another race, with other customs and 

language. 
Only along the shore of the mournful and 

misty Atlantic 
Linger a few Acadian peasants, whose fathers 

from exile 
Wandered back to their nai . e land to die in 

its bosom. 
In the fisherman's cot the wheel and the loom 

are still busy ; 1395 

Maidens still wear their Norman caps and 

their kirtles of homespun, 
And by the evening fire repeat Evangeline's 

story, 

i/' *?y Atlantic. So called from the fogs which prevail in the 
Atlantic off the coast of Nova Scotia. See note 672. 

Norman cans. High white caps still worn by the women in the 
ancient province of Normandy in Prance. 



126 EVANGELINE. 

While from its rocky caverns the deep- 
voiced, neighboring ocean 

Speaks, and in accents disconsolate answers 
the wail of the forest. 

1398. While from its rocky caverns, etc. See lines 5, 6. The poet 
beautifully concludes his tale of the vicissitudes of human life by re- 
peating some of the opening lines of the poem. The heroes of his drama 
have long since passed away, a few descendants alone are left to tell the 
story of their love and trials; but the same unchanging Ocean " speaks, 
and in accents disconsolate answers the wail of the Forest." 



EXERCISES. 

1. Make a list of the persons mentioned by name in 

the poem, and state what relation they bore to 
eacli other. 

2. Give a brief summary in your own words of the 

First Part of the poem. 

3. Give a similar summary of the Second Part. 

4. Name the four regions of America in w r hich the 

principal scenes of the tale are laid. 

5. Name the three great rivers introduced in the tale. 

6. Give in your own words a short summary of the old 

notary's story about the statue of Justice. 

7. Also of the two Indian traditions told to Evangeline 

by the Shawnee woman. 

8. Mention some of the superstitions believed in by 

the Acadians. 

9. Mention some of the animals alluded to in the 

poem. 

10.. The Black Robe chief likens faith in the soul of 
man to a certain plant found in the prairies. 
What is it called? 

11. What is meant by personification? Give any exam- 
ples of it which you remember in the poem. 

127 



APR 5 1906 



